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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



FLOWER LORE AND 
LEGEND 



BY 



KATHARINE M. BEALS 




NEW YORK 

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
1917 



■ 133 



Copyright, 1917, 

BY 

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
Published August, 1917 



V 

SEP -I 1917 



THB QUINN * ■OOEN CO. PRES* 
IUHWAT, N. J. 



©GI.A473304 






CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Use of Flowers 2 

The Snowdrop 3 

The Arbutus 10 

The Crocus 17 

The Anemone 21 

The Narcissus 26 

The Dandelion 35 

The Lily of the Valley 42 

"he Violet . 46 

The Pansy 54 

The Mignonette 60 

The Buttercup 66 

The Forget-me-not y2 

>e Hyacinth 78 

1 ie Marguerite. A Daisy 83 

T iR Peony . . 89 

1 he Sunflower 94 

The Clover 100 

T ?e Bachelor Buttons 107 

1 e Rose 113 

The Lily 130 

The Passion Flower 140 

The Mandrake 146 

The Marigold . .151 

The Orchid . 157 

The Verbena , , , . 165 

iii 



iv CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Water Lily 172 

The Poppy 184 

The Iris 191 

The Thistle 109 

The Columbine 207 

The Goldenrod 213 

The Gentian 219 

The Chrysanthemum ... . 225 

The Rosemary 234 

L'Envoi 243 



FLOWER LORE AND LEGEND 



By Mary Howitt 

God might have bade the earth bring forth 

Enough for great and small, 
The oak tree and the cedar tree, 

Without a flower at all. 
We might have had enough, enough, 

For every want of ours, 
For luxury, medicine, and toil, 

And yet have had no flowers. 

Then wherefore, wherefore were they made, 

All dyed with rainbow light, 
All fashioned with supremest grace, 

Upspringing day and night — 
Springing in valleys green and low, 

And on the mountains high, 
And in the silent wilderness 

Where no man passes by ? 

Our outward life requires them not — 

Then wherefore had they birth? 
To minister delight to man, 

To beautify the earth; 
To comfort man, to whisper hope, 

Whene'er his faith is dim, 
For who so careth for the flowers, 

Will care much more for Him ! 



( THE SNOWDROP 

FRIENDSHIP IN ADVERSITY, — CONSOLATION,— HOPE 

Lone flower, hemmed in with snows, and white as they, 

But hardier far, once more I see thee bend 

Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend, 
Like an unbidden guest ; though day by day, 
Storms, sallying from the mountain tops waylay 

The rising sun, and on the plains descend; 

Yet thou art welcome, welcome as a friend 
Whose zeal outruns his promise! 

Wordsworth, To a Snowdrop. 

As our first parents turned away from the closed 
gates of the Garden of Eden the whole world looked 
bleak and cold. The trees were bare, the grass was 
brown, and the driving snow seemed to wrap the 
earth, as in a pall. All Nature seemed to mourn 
for the fall of man. Eve, overcome with the re- 
membrance of all that she had lost, sank weeping 
to the ground. Her sorrow touched the heart of 
the Father, and He sent an angel to console her. 
As the angel was speaking, bidding her take heart 
and be of good courage, a snow flake fell upon her 
hand. Raising it to his face he breathed upon it 
and bade it take form and bud and blossom. Before 
it reached the earth it had been transformed into a 
beautiful plant with dainty drooping white blossoms. 
Smiling, the angel said to Eve, "Be of good cheer. 

3 



4 FLOWER LORE 

Let this flower be to you an earnest of the sunshine 
and summer that will come again." Then, his mis- 
sion being accomplished, the angel ascended to 
Heaven; but where he had been standing, sprang 
up, through the show, quantities of the white blos- 
soms. This is the legend of how the snowdrop 
came to earth : 

" And the snowdrop, like the bow 
That spans the cloudy sky, 
Became a symbol whence we know, 
That brighter days are nigh." 

The snowdrops are among the daintiest and the 
earliest of the spring flowers. They often bloom 
before the snow is gone. Florists have done their 
best to produce them for Christmas, but have never 
profitably succeeded. They are cosmopolitan and 
will grow almost everywhere, except in extreme 
tropical countries, but are at their best on the Cau- 
casian Mountains and in Asia Minor. Although 
they grow wild in England and Europe, in America 
they are generally found among the cultivated 
flowers. 

The Latin name, given to the plant by Linn^us, 
is calanthus, meaning milk-flower. The family 
name is amaryllis. Its nicknames are numerous. 
In Germany it is called February flower, snow violet, 
and naked maiden; in France, white-bell, bell-of- 
the-snow, winter-bell, and snow-piercer. The Eng- 
lish name, snowdrop, is said to have been derived 



THE SNOWDROP 5 

from the German, and the drop refers to the long 
pendants which were worn, in their ears, by the 
women of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 
They are often seen in portraits by the Dutch and 
Italian painters of that period, and have been re- 
vived as ornaments at various times since. The 
popular Danish name for the flower is sommer 
gorrk, meaning summer fool. Hans Christian An- 
dersen tells a pathetic story of the sommer gorrk, 
who, deceived by the bright sunshine and in a hurry 
to don her dainty spring gown, started from her 
warm home in the earth, and against the advice of 
her friends, forced her way through the snow, con- 
fident that she would eventually reach the summer- 
land. Struggling for a time against the cold and 
snow, her delicate robes stained and draggled, she 
found no other flowers to keep her company and 
finally was beaten down by a storm of sleet and 
wind, while only a little distance to the southward, 
flooding the fields with sunshine, summer was draw- 
ing nearer and nearer every day to the poor little 
perishing blossom. The dear old story-teller likens 
to the sommer gorrk those noble souls, born into 
a world not yet prepared to receive them, — the re- 
formers, who are reviled and persecuted by their 
own generations, but who are later held in honor, — 
the poets, the scientists, and the statesmen, who are 
only recognized by posterity. These, he says, are 
sommer gorrks. How many dreamers, like the 
snowdrops, are the prophets of the spring! 



6 FLOWER LORE 

Among the Russian folk-tales, there is one which 
tells how the snowdrop came to be the first flower 
of spring. A beautiful girl was left, at the death 
of her father, to the care of a cruel stepmother, 
whose own daughter was extremely jealous. Be- 
tween them the poor girl was badly treated. At 
last, urged by her daughter, the stepmother deter- 
mined to get rid of the girl. It was January. The 
snow was deep and a freezing cold wind blew from 
the mountains. Calling the girl, she sent her out 
into the forest, bidding her not to return until she 
could bring back a bunch of snowdrops. Sorrow- 
fully, the maiden went out into the storm, on her 
hopeless errand. As she entered the wood she saw 
far ahead, among the leafless trees, a fire burning 
brightly, about which were twelve stones, and seated 
on the stones twelve men. The chief, sitting on the 
largest stone, was an old man, with a long white 
beard, who held a staff in his hand. The girl tim- 
idly approached and observing that she was almost 
frozen, after the men had made room for her at 
the fire, the chief inquired why she was out in the 
forest in such inclement weather. With many tears, 
she told him her sad story and after a glance around 
the circle he said slowly : "lam January. I can- 
not give you any snowdrops, but perhaps my brother 
February can help you," and turning to a fine young 
man sitting near him he continued : " Brother Feb- 
ruary, you may sit in my place." In a little while, 
after they had exchanged seats, the ice and snow 



THE SNOWDROP ^ 

around the fire began to melt, a softness came into 
the air and at the feet of February, up through the 
snow came the flower buds. Presently a bed of 
snowdrops was in full bloom. The young girl 
thanked her hosts, gathered a beautiful bouquet, and 
carried it home to her astonished and frightened 
stepmother. 

During the Crimean War, when the allied forces 
were encamped before Sebastopol, and the long se- 
vere winter brought terrible privation and suffering 
to the troops, the soldiers watched and longed for 
some sign of the breaking of the winter. One day, 
in the latter part of February, a trooper came ex- 
citedly running into a tent, where a number of his 
comrades sat sadly thinking of home and friends. 
In his hand he held two or three small white flowers. 
" Look, look," he cried, " spring snowdrops." The 
men arose to their feet, uncovered their heads to 
the white blossoms, the first sign of returning spring, 
and wept like little children. From that time their 
courage revived rapidly, as day by day they searched 
for the bright little flowers. When they returned 
to England many of them brought with them bulbs 
of the plant, which had been to them such a joy. 
Thus the variety, known as the Crimean snowdrop, 
was introduced into England. 

The bees are very fond of this flower. The blos- 
soms only remain open about six hours every day, — 
from ten in the morning until four in the after- 
noon, — but during that short time they are a God- 



8 FLOWER LORE 

send to the few honey-bees who, almost in winter, 
have been tempted to stray into the sunshine. The 
honey is protected from the snow and rain by the 
drooping position of the flowers and the perfume of 
the blossom is a guide which directs the venturesome 
insects to the good cheer that awaits them. 

It would be remarkable if a flower so appropri- 
ate for religious symbolism had not been made use 
of in that connection. The fact that the snowdrop 
was often found, in abundance, in the old convent 
gardens, led to the belief that it was sacred to vir- 
gins. Thus it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. 
On the second of February, Candlemas day, when 
the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin 
is celebrated in commemoration of the presentation 
of the Child Jesus, by His parents, in the Jewish 
Temple, the statue of the Virgin having been re- 
moved from the altar, the place where it stood is 
strewn with snowdrops, the emblems of purity and 
chastity. In some places it became customary for 
young women, wearing white gowns, to walk in 
procession, carrying snowdrops in their hands. An 
old saying serves to remind us of this : 

The snowdrop in purest white array, 
First rears her head on Candlemas day. 

Although the snowdrop has most appropriately 
been regarded as an emblem of purity, of hope, of 
consolation, and of courage in Germany and some 
parts of England, it was considered a forecast of 



THE SNOWDROP 9 

death to bring the first snowdrop into the house. 
Other superstitions in regard to the flower were 
more pleasing. It was often said that any one wear- 
ing a snowdrop would have only pure and lofty 
thoughts; and that if a young girl ate the first snow- 
drop she found in the spring neither sun nor wind 
would tan her that summer. 

The flower seems to have been a favorite with 
many writers, and, although there is no recorded 
bibliography, there is little difficulty in finding 
abundant tributes. No plant brings to mind more 
associations. All flowers command admiration, but 
it compels affection. 

The women poets of England have all loved it. 
In their verses, Mrs. Barbauld, Mrs. Browning, and 
Mrs. Hemans have told us of their regard. Mont- 
gomery calls it the " Morning Star of Flowers." 
Rossetti writes of the pendulous blossoms with the 
" heart-shaped seal of green." Barry Cornwall, re- 
ferring to its associations, says it is the emblem of 
friendship in adversity, and is protected by an 
armor all its own. 

Thou first born of the year's delight 

Pride of the dewy glade, 
In vernal green and virgin white 

Thy vestal robes arrayed : 
They twinkle to the wintry moon 

And cheer the ungenial day, 
And tell us all will glisten soon 

As green and bright as they. 

Keble, To the Snowdrop, 



THE ARBUTUS 

YOU ONLY DO I LOVE 

There is a flower whose name I need not call, 
Which shyly hides beside the crumbling wall, 
Or lifts, through drifts of leaves, her modest head 
And looks about, and asks, " Is winter dead ? " 

Anonymous. 

In England, the hawthorn is universally known 
as mayflower, or may; but in America, especially 
in New England, that name is given to the fragrant 
pink-and-white blossoms of the arbutus. After that 
first terrible winter which the Pilgrim Fathers spent 
on the stern coast at Plymouth, as the spring ap- 
proached, and the snow melted, bare spots appeared 
on the summit and sides of Burial Hill. From un- 
der the dead grass and melting ice, clinging closely 
to the ground, peeped the bright leaves and clusters 
of its delicate blossoms, harbingers of spring. No 
wonder that those early pioneers, grave and austere 
as they were, loved them and called them may- 
flowers. The good ship, which had brought them 
hither, was also thus honored. 

The Greek name given by Linnaeus is epigaea 
repens, which means creeping on the earth. It be- 
longs exclusively to the new world and has no classic 
associations, yet is not altogether without tradition. 

xo 



THE ARBUTUS n 

Among the legends of the Iroquois is found the 
story of its birth. 

Long, long ago, before the white man had set 
foot on the shore of the new world, an old man 
lived alone in a tepee, in one of the forests near the 
great lakes. His beard and hair were long and 
white. He was dressed in skins of the beaver. A 
bearskin hung before the door of his lodge, for it 
was winter, and snow and ice were everywhere. 
The nearby stream was frozen over and the wind 
moaned through the tree-tops of the forest. One 
night after he had been abroad in the wood, picking 
up broken branches and roots of trees that he might 
keep up his fire, as the wind blew and the snow 
drifted against his door, he cried out loudly, pro- 
testing that all must perish. Suddenly, the bear- 
skin that hung before his door was pushed aside 
and a beautiful maiden entered. Her cheeks were 
like roses, her eyes were bright, and her hair was 
as black as the crow's wing. She wore a mantle of 
sweet grass and ferns and on her head was a wreath 
of flowers. As she entered, the whole lodge seemed 
filled with warmth and perfume. The old man 
gazed in wonder at the fair visitor, and said : " Wel- 
come, my daughter, to this poor shelter; my fire is 
low, but draw near and tell me whence come you 
and who are thy people, and I will tell thee of my 
victories." 

The maiden smiled and the dark little lodge 
seemed filled with brightness. The old man took 



12 FLOWER LORE 

down his pipe and when he had filled and lighted 
it, he began: 

" I am Manito, the Great. The breath of my 
nostrils causes the waters in the rivers and the lakes 
to stand still in frozen silence." 

The maiden replied : " Manito is great, but when 
I smile, flowers spring up everywhere and the fields 
are carpeted with green." 

Then said Manito : " When I shake my hoary 
locks, the earth is wrapped in a snowy pall, the leaves 
fall from the trees, the birds fly before my breath, 
and the winds wail all over the land." 

" Oh, Manito is very great," said the maiden, 
"more terrible is he than the red man; but, as I 
pass along, the leaves cover the branches which thou 
hast laid bare, the birds sing, and the breeze is soft 
and pleasant." 

As the maiden was speaking, Manito heard not. 
His head had dropped on his breast; his pipe had 
fallen from his hand, and he was sleeping. The 
maiden waved her hands. His head began to shrink 
and streams of water ran down from his long locks 
and beard; his garments turned into green 
leaves, and birds flew into the lodge singing their 
sweet songs. The maiden took from her bosom some 
beautiful fragrant flowers, white and rose-pink, and 
hid them under the leaves that had sprung up about 
her feet, and before she put them there she kissed 
them and said, " I give to thee, all my beauty, my 
sweetness, and my most fragrant breath, and men 



THE ARBUTUS 13 

shall gather thee with bowed heads and on bended 
knee." Then she passed on over the fields and up 
the hills. Everywhere the birds, the winds, and 
the brooks greeted her with a joyous song, and 
wherever she stepped, but nowhere else, grows the 
arbutus to this day. 

Mrs. Whitman wrote these lines: 

There's a flower that grows by the greenwood tree, 

In its desolate beauty more dear to me 

Than all that bask in the noontide beam 

Through the long, bright summer by font and 

stream, 
Like a pure hope nursed beneath sorrow's wing 
Its timid buds from the cold moss spring, 
Their delicate hues like the pink sea shell 
Or the shaded blush of the hyacinth's bell, 
Their breath more sweet than the faint perfume 
That breathes from the bridal orange-bloom. 

Whenever the choice of a national flower has 
been under discussion, it has been a prominent can- 
didate, and in 1909 it was the leader in a contest 
among the school children of Wisconsin, as their 
choice, for a state flower. In some parts of that 
state it has become customary to call a certain day 
in the spring Arbutus day. Under the supervision 
of a committee of club women, the children gather, 
and in conveyances contributed, and in many cases 
driven by the farmers, go out into the woods in 
search of the blossoms. On their return, the flowers 
are packed in boxes and sent to Milwaukee and other 



i 4 FLOWER LORE 

large cities to be distributed as the committee de- 
cides. There has been much criticism of this whole- 
sale gathering and fears have been expressed that 
before many years the plant may have become only 
a memory. It is already practically exterminated 
in New York state, where once it grew in abund- 
ance. It does not bear transplanting well, nor does 
it thrive in any but a wild state. It is becoming 
more restricted in territory and scarcer every year. 
Suggestions have been made that laws be enacted 
for the protection of our vanishing wild flowers 
like those for the protection of game and fish. 

The trailing arbutus grows only in North Amer- 
ica. It is the national flower of Newfoundland and 
is found along the eastern coast as far south as 
Florida and as far west as Minnesota, where, how- 
ever, it is rare, growing only in territory adjacent 
to Duluth, on the Kettle River, and in the valley of 
the St. Croix. 

The arbutus or strawberry tree, which is men- 
tioned by Pliny, belongs to the same family and has 
many of the characteristics of its less imposing rela- 
tive. It has the same smooth red bark and glossy 
evergreen foliage. The blossoms are the same, only 
larger. It was used by the Romans with other 
symbolic trees and flowers at the festival of Pales, 
the goddess of pastoral life, and was dedicated to 
Candia, the sister of Apollo, who used a rod from 
this tree to drive away witches and to protect chil- 
dren from illness and witchcraft. The fruit was 



THE ARBUTUS 15 

of the size and appearance of the strawberry, but 
ripened so slowly, that, like the orange tree, fruit 
and blossom occupied the tree at the same time. 
Pliny gave it the name unedo, because it was so 
bitter that " he who ate once, would eat no more." 
In Spain and Italy, however, it is still an article 
of food. It is said to resemble cranberries in flavor, 
for which it is sometimes used as a substitute. The 
Abbe Barthelemy, in his Travels of Anacharsis, de- 
scribes these trees as they grew on the summit of 
Mt. Ida, in Crete. This oriental arbutus was fre- 
quently referred to by ancient writers. Horace cele- 
brated it in his odes, and, in the JEneid, the bier of 
Pallas is described by Virgil as covered with arbutus 
rods and oaken twigs. Numerous other allusions 
are made to it by the classic poets. 

Tributes to the mayflower or trailing arbutus have 
been generally confined to American writers and 
almost every New England author has at some time 
written affectionately of the sweet-scented blossoms. 
Thoreau, John Burroughs, and Higginson, among 
prose writers, have given it especial mention, and 
a volume of some size might be compiled from the 
poems written of the modest little flower. Perhaps 
the best-known verses are by Whittier, who writes 
of the mayflower and the pilgrims: 

" God be praised ! " the pilgrim said, 
Who saw the blossoms peer 
Above the brown leaves, dry and dead, 
" Behold our mayflower here." 



1 6 FLOWER LORE 

O sacred flowers of faith and hope, 

As sweetly now, as then, 
Ye bloom on many a birchen slope, 

In many a pine-dark glen. 

So live the fathers in their sons, 

Their sturdy faith be ours, 
And ours the love that overruns 

Its rocky strength with flowers. 

Whittier, The Mayflowers, 



THE CROCUS 

CHEERFULNESS 

Hail to the King of Bethlehem! 
Who weareth in His diadem 
A yellow crocus for the gem 
Of His authority. 

Longfellow, Golden Legend. 

In England and North America, the little purple 
pasque-flower, which the children call gosling, that 
pushes its way almost through the snowdrifts and 
is so abundant on our hillsides in the springtime, 
is often incorrectly called crocus. Some botanists 
class it in the anemone family. Professor Conway 
McMillan calls it a species of clematis. The crocus 
of ancient times was of a bright yellow color and 
corresponded to our marsh marigold. It was also 
known by the name of saffron, which is still used 
to describe a peculiarly brilliant shade of yellow*. 
Readers of Homer will remember that he uses the 
epithet saffron-robed to describe the glory of the 
dawn. In Egypt, the expression saffron-colored 
served to convey an idea of the brilliancy of the 
setting sun. 

The ancients regarded the crocus as dedicated to 
Helios, the Sun-God. In the Middle Ages the flower 

17 



1 8 FLOWER LORE 

was thought to belong especially to St. Valentine. 
Some writers say that the name is from a Greek 
word meaning thread, because the fiber of the plant 
was used in dyeing brilliant yellow, which was a 
favorite color of the Greeks, as well as other Eastern 
nations. 

The Greeks had a tradition as to the origin of 
the plant. According to their mythology, Crocus 
was a noble youth who was very much in love with 
a beautiful shepherdess named Smilax. According 
to the laws of the gods, he could not marry her and 
in his disappointment he killed himself. Smilax 
was heart-broken and wept so much that Flora, the 
goddess, felt sorry for her and turned them both 
into plants; Crocus into the flower that bears his 
name, and Smilax into a beautiful vine, the tendrils 
of which were used to bind together garlands of the 
crocus used by the Greeks as decorations at their 
marriage festivals. 

There is also an autumnal variety. This has been 
sweetly referred to in verse : 

" Say what impels amid surrounding snow 
Congealed the crocus' flamy bud to grow ? 
Say what retards amid the summer's blaze 
The autumnal bud 'til pale declining days ? " 

The plant has many medicinal qualities. Pliny 
enumerates over twenty remedies derived from it. 
According to his natural history, those using it as 
a drink will never suffer from indigestion or head- 



THE CROCUS 19 

ache. He also says that it was regarded as hinder- 
ing intoxication and as a fine tonic for the heart 
and lungs. In the time of pestilence and plague, it 
was used as a preventive. Its wreaths, worn on 
the head, were said to dispel the fumes of wine. 
The Egyptians wreathed their wine cups with its 
garlands for the same purpose. It was used ex- 
tensively by the Jews as an aromatic, and is referred 
to by Solomon in Canticles 4-14, as one of the plants 
in the delectable garden. The Greeks used it also 
for perfume, while the Romans were so fond of its 
odor that they decorated their homes and public 
assembly houses with it, and at banquets small 
streams of its essence were made to issue from foun- 
tains and to descend on the guests in a fine spray. 
As it was thought to inspire love, potions were made 
from it. It was said to bloom at dawn on St. Valen- 
tine's day. 

The coloring matter made from the fiber of the 
plant has long been used in cooking. Shakespeare, 
in A Winter's Tale, speaks of its use to color the 
warden-pies. At present it serves to color confec- 
tionery. 

The controversy as to the introduction of the plant 
into England has at times waxed fiercely, but it is 
now generally conceded that Sir Thomas Smith first 
imported it from Persia about the middle of the 
fourteenth century. There is a tradition current at 
Saffron-Walden, in Cambridgeshire, where the 
plant was first cultivated, that it was brought by a 



20 FLOWER LORE 

pilgrim, who wished to render some service to his 
country. He had his staff made hollow, and in 
this way brought a root into England at the risk of 
his life. If he had been discovered, according to 
the law of Persia, he would have been put to death. 
Many beautiful poems have been written about 
the crocus. The French poet, Rapin, has beauti- 
fully told its story and Virgil tells of the fondness 
of the bees for the " glowing crocus." Moore, in 
Lalla Rookh, sings of the same thing. Almost all 
of the New England poets have a word in praise 
for the " brave little crocus," while present-day 
writers do not neglect it, as the following, taken 
from the Westminster Gazette, will prove : 

O, you plucky fellows, 
All in sunshine yellows, 

Braving bitter winds and cold, 

Waving fearless flags of gold, 
Welcome, crocus fellows! 

hardships and privation, 

Sleet and snow for ration, 

Leave you laughing, gay and bold, 
Grieve you little, — faith untold 

Mocks at mere privation. 

Welcome, comrade fellows, 
All in sunshine yellows! 

Still your cups of light unfold, 

Out of clay your glory mold ! 
Welcome, plucky fellows! 

Anon, Yellow Crocuses. 



THE ANEMONE 

WITHERED HOPES 

Youth, like a thin anemone, displays 
His silken leaf, and in a morn decays. 

Sir William Jones. 

Although it is one of the earliest of the spring 
blossoms, the anemone is not a cheerful flower. It 
withers almost as soon as it is gathered. In Sweden 
there is a saying that it blooms in the wood when 
the swallow returns from his winter migration. 
The name, anemone, or wind-flower, some writers 
claim, was given it because it is so fragile that it 
withers when the wind blows over it; others say 
that it only blooms when the wind blows it open. 
The classical legend as to the origin of the plant 
is based upon both suppositions. 

One day Cupid was playing with his mother, 
Venus, and he accidentally wounded her in the breast 
with one of his arrows. Before the wound had 
healed, Adonis crossed her path and she forgot 
everything for him. Adonis loved to hunt and 
Venus, who was rather indolent and not inclined to 
exert herself, put on hunting garments and roamed 
through the woods like Diana. She was much 
alarmed lest Adonis should be injured in an en- 

21 



22 FLOWER LORE 

counter with some wild beast, and gave him con- 
tinual warnings not to put himself in danger and 
especially not to attack bears or lions as they were 
his mortal enemies. Adonis was a brave youth, and 
laughed at her fears, and when a wild boar one day 
sprang from its lair and attacked the dogs that were 
with him, he threw his spear and wounded the ani- 
mal. The beast turned and buried its tusks in his 
side, causing instant death. Venus, at this moment 
passing through the air in her chariot drawn by 
white swans, saw the body bathed in blood lying on 
the ground. Stopping her chariot, she alighted and 
reproaching the Fates, exclaimed : " You have 
taken away my love, but you shall have but a partial 
triumph ! " Weeping over the dead body, she said : 
" Your blood shall be transformed into a flower that 
shall blossom every spring as a memorial of my 
grief." Then she sprinkled nectar over the blood, 
and in an hour there sprang up a delicate flower with 
crimson-veined petals. Because the wind blows 
them open, and soon after blows them away, it is 
called the anemone, or wind-flower. It is said to 
have been dedicated to Venus because of her 
tears. 

Another story is that Anemone was the name of 
a beautiful nymph whom Zephyr loved very dearly. 
Flora becoming very jealous exiled her from court, 
but when she pined away and died of a broken 
heart Zephyr importuned Venus, who changed her 
body into the flower which bears the name, and 



THE ANEMONE 23 

Zephyr is said to fan her all the day long with his 
wings. 

The flower poet, Rapin, concludes his account of 
the transformation, with these words: 

So the fair victim fell, whose beauty's light 
Had been more lasting, had it been less bright ; 
She, though transformed, as charming as before, 
The fairest maid is now the fairest flower. 

Although the anemone is a classical flower and 
dedicated to Venus, it also has a place among the 
fairy plants. The painting of its delicate veins is 
ascribed to those little creatures. The botanists de- 
scribe the flower as a natural barometer, because 
as the night approaches, or just before a shower, 
the dampness in the air causes the petals to curl 
over tent fashion, but fairy-lore tells us that this is 
done by the fairies who cuddle down in the heart 
of the flower and pull the leaves over them like 
curtains. 

Pliny, who wrote a natural history sometime dur- 
ing the first century, which treats of almost every- 
thing under the sun, attributes medicinal properties 
to the plant. He says that it is good for pains and 
inflammation in the head ; that, if the root is chewed, 
it will cure the toothache; that a decoction made 
from the leaves is very beneficial to the eyes. 

The Eastern magicians regarded the plant as a 
preventive of sickness, and recommended every 
one to gather the first blossom that is seen in the 



24 FLOWER LORE 

spring, repeating very solemnly the words, " I gather 
thee as a remedy against disease." Afterwards it 
must be wrapped in a red cloth and carefully kept 
in a dark place. If the person who gathered the 
flower was taken ill, it was to be tied around the 
neck or under the arm. The Egyptians regarded it 
as an emblem of sickness. In some countries it is 
thought that the blossoms taint the air and cause 
severe illness. In some parts of North America, 
at the present time, they are regarded as unwhole- 
some for cattle to eat. 

They are said to have sprung up in England from 
the blood of Danes, who were slain in battle. The 
Romans planted them at High Cross, near Leicester, 
as a charm against dropsy. But wherever they are 
found they do not bloom until the wind calls. 

A New England poetess, Lucy Larcom, thus ex- 
presses it: 

" Why have I come here ? " the windflower said. 
" Why ? " and she gracefully nodded her head. 
" The storm rocked my cradle with lullaby wild, 
I am here with the wind, because I am his child." 

A story is told of a florist in Paris, who im- 
ported a very beautiful variety from the East In- 
dies. He was so afraid that some one else would 
get the benefit of this prize that he guarded it most 
carefully, and for ten years succeeded in keeping it 
to himself. One day a French councilor visited the 
gardens when the plants were in seed, and, as he 



THE ANEMONE 25 

passed the bed in which they were growing, dropped 
his cloak on them. A number of the seeds clung 
to the woolen surface of the garment, and his serv- 
ant, to whom he had previously given instructions, 
picked up the cloak 'and folded it up without at- 
tracting attention. The councilor sharing the seed 
with his friends broke up the monopoly. 

An armorial device was sent to one of the noted 
beauties of the seventeenth century with the sug- 
gestion that she adopt it as her own. The shield 
bore the frail anemone, with the motto, " Brevis est 
usus." (Her reign is short, or literally, "Short 
is its use.") 

The short life of the flower has served poets of 
all ages for a text upon the brevity of life. Shake- 
speare writes : " These flowers are like the pleasures 
of the world," and the following lines are by the 
English poet, Pratt: 

Sweet are the memories that ye bring, 

Of the pleasant leafy woods of spring; 

Of the wild bee, so gladly humming, 

Joyous that earth's young flowers are coming; 

Of the nightingale and merry thrush, 

Cheerfully singing from every bush; 

And the cuckoo's note, when the air is still, 

Heard far away on the distant hill. 

Pratt, Spring. 



THE NARCISSUS 

SELF-LOVE 

And narcissi, the finest among them all, 
Who gaze on their eyes in the stream's recess 
Till they die of their own dear loveliness. 

Shelley. 

Ech6 was a beautiful nymph who had one very 
great fault, she always would have the last word. 
One day Jupiter, the father of the Roman gods, 
who was called Zeus by the Greeks, was watching 
the naiads dancing in the woods when Juno came 
looking for him. Echo, knowing that the fun would 
be spoiled, met her and by her sprightly conversa- 
tion detained the goddess until the nymphs could 
make their escape to another spot. When Juno 
discovered this, she was very angry and passed 
sentence upon Echo : " You shall forfeit the power 
of speech, except for the purpose of repeating the 
last word you hear. ,, 

Now in Bceotia there lived a beautiful youth of 
whom it had been foretold that he should live hap- 
pily until he beheld his own face. His name was 
Narcissus. As he was pursuing the chase one day, 
Echo beheld him and fell in love with him; but, 
alas! she could not speak to him, and could only 

26 



THE NARCISSUS 27 

repeat the last word that he said. Narcissus grew 
angry and left her, and poor Echo pined away until 
there was nothing left but her voice. Then her 
sister nymphs begged Diana to cause this careless 
youth to know sometime what it meant to love and 
meet with no return. Diana, with whom Echo was 
a favorite, granted their prayer, and Cupid, who 
is always ready, assisted. 

One day, as Narcissus, who had never loved any 
one, was wandering among the hills, he came to a 
beautiful pool of water and, bending down to take 
a drink, he saw his own face reflected in the clear 
surface. He thought it was some water spirit, and 
immediately fell in love with his own reflection. 
But alas! the vision fled at his touch. He spoke, 
but it did not answer. " When I beckon you do 
the same, but you come no nearer," he cried, and 
he would not leave the shore of the pool, but wan- 
dered about in the woods near by, weeping. The 
beauty which had so charmed Echo faded away, 
and at length he died, knowing what it was to love 
without return. 

The water nymphs mourned for him and pre- 
pared a funeral pyre, but when they would have 
buried the body it had disappeared and in its place 
was a beautiful flower with a yellow center, which 
they named Narcissus, in his memory. In the cup 
in the center, it is said, the tears of the ill-fated 
youth may be found. 

Old Ben Jonson retold the story in his verse : 



28 FLOWER LORE 

Arise, and speak thy sorrows, Echo; arise 
Here by this fountain, where thy love did pine, 
Whose memory lives fresh to lasting fame, 
Shrined in this yellow flower that bears his name. 

Near a clear spring, in an open space in the midst 
of the woods, where tendrils creep and the blue sky 
looks down from above, the blossom, forlorn in 
its drooping loveliness, may still be found. 

Keats sings that : 

Grieving by the pool 
His spreading ringers shoot in verdant leaves; 
Through his pale veins green sap now gently flows, 
And in a short-lived flower his beauty blows. 
Let vain Narcissus warn each female breast 
That beauty's but a transient good at best. 

Echo still roams the woods and when the children 
call she hopes it is Narcissus, and they hear her 
answer as she searches for him. 

There is probably no place in the world where 
the white narcissi grow so abundantly, in a wild 
state, as on the slopes of the mountains that over- 
look the castle of Chillon, in Switzerland. It has 
been the custom from time immemorial for crowds 
of visitors to go to Montreux in the springtime for 
the pleasure of gathering these flowers. About 
1896, the town authorities determined to utilize this 
custom. On the 19th and 20th of May is cele- 
brated the " Fete des Narcisse." Thousands of 
spectators crowd the great amphitheater, in the Eng- 



THE NARCISSUS 29 

lish garden. On the wide platform is grouped a 
large chorus of Alpine singers, draped in dark 
cloaks and singing a weird air. They represent the 
earth in the winter time. Then follows a strain 
of cheery music and a party of winter visitors ap- 
pear, clothed in costumes of various nations, and 
girls in Italian dresses offer their roses, but Mon- 
treux has something better. The brown hoods of 
the chorus are thrown back and garlands of green 
appear. Birds come flying in, by machinery; the 
brown cloaks drop, and the singers are seen all in 
green and white representing the narcissus. The 
Sun King comes in his chariot of gold, and birds 
and flowers all join in singing the welcome to 
spring. 

The white or poet's narcissus is edged with pink 
and represents youthful purity and beauty attuned 
by fragrance. The innocence displayed in its large 
soft eye is rarely rivaled among the flowers. It is 
an emblem of the Virgin Mother. 

In England one variety is called the daffodil. It 
wears a yellow instead of a white dress, and as the 
children say : 

" Daff a down dill has come to town, 
In a yellow petticoat and a green gown." 

In some parts, because it reaches its prime dur- 
ing the month of March, it is known as the Lent- 
lily, and also by the more homely name of butter 
and eggs. In China it is called shin sin fa, which 



30 FLOWER LORE 

means water fairy flower. The Persians know it 
as golden and the Turks call it the golden bowl. 

The daffodil is supposed to be one of the flowers 
that Proserpina was gathering when she was seized 
and carried away by Pluto, who was a brother of 
Jupiter and King of the Infernal Regions. One day 
he saw Proserpina among the goddesses and fell in 
love with her. He determined to have her for his 
wife, but he knew that her mother, Ceres, the god- 
dess of agriculture, would never allow her daughter 
to go with him to the under world. He consulted 
Venus, who promised to aid him. 

One day Proserpina was gathering flowers by a 
beautiful lake in the Vale of Enna, where it is al- 
ways spring. Her mother, who was resting on the 
shore of the lake, warned her not to wander far, 
but Venus caused beautiful flowers to keep spring- 
ing up just ahead of the girl, enticing her further 
and further away. 

Pluto, who was watching her, suddenly appeared 
in his chariot with coal-black horses, caught her and 
carried her off. She screamed for help, but Ceres 
did not hear her, and the chariot and its occupants 
vanished through an opening in the earth. 

As it disappeared, Proserpina dropped some of 
the flowers she had been gathering. Daffodils are 
said to have been the flowers with which Venus 
tempted her to wander, and which she dropped from 
the chariot. 

We are told that the heavy perfume of the flowers 



THE NARCISSUS 31 

dulled the senses of Ceres so that she did not per- 
ceive her daughter's danger; and Proserpina, her- 
self, was so overcome by the narcotic influence of 
the blossoms that she did not realize what was hap- 
pening to her. 

Jean Ingelow wrote: 

Lo ! one she marked of rarer growth 

Than orchis or anemone; 
For it the maiden left them both, 

And parted from her company. 
Drawn nigh, she deemed it fairer still, 
And stooped to gather by the rill 
The daffodil, the daffodil. 

In literature the daffodil has a prominent place. 
Jean Ingelow has beautifully told this story in her 
poem of Persephone?. Shakespeare, in A Winter's 
Tale, thus refers to it : 

Oh, Proserpina, 
For the flowers now that frightened thou let'st fall 

From Dis's wagon, Daffodils 
That come before the swallow dares — and take 

The winds of March with beauty. 

Ancient writers did not neglect this beautiful 
flower, although they refer to it often, on account 
of its narcotic properties, as an emblem of deceitful- 
ness. Homer asserts that it delights heaven and 
earth with its odor and beauty, and at the same 
time induces stupor, and sometimes death. 



32 FLOWER LORE 

Among the later writers the daffodil is a favorite, 
and many verses have been written in praise of it, 
among the best known being those by Herrick : 

Faire Daffodils, we weep to see 

You haste away so soone; 
As yet the early-rising sun 

Has not attain'd his noone. 
Stay, stay, 

Until the hasting day 
Has run 

But to the even song; 
And, having pray'd together, we 

Will goe with you along. 

We have short time to stay as you. 

We have as short a spring; 
As quick a growth to meet decay, 

As you, or any thing. 
We die, 

As your hours doe, and drie 
Away 
Like to the summer's rains, 

Or as the pearles of morning's dew 
Ne'er to be found againe. 

Some say that the daffodil was the ancient 
asphodel and that its name is a corruption of that 
word. Dr. Prior thinks it sounds like saffron lily, 
while Lady Wilkinson derives it from the old word 
affodyle, which means " it cometh early." 

Generally, it is thought to be "the rose of 
Sharon." 



THE NARCISSUS 33 

The Romans built altars and offered sacrifices 
at springs of pure water. Thus the fountain 
nymphs were honored by the Fontinalian cere- 
monies. In England daffodils were thrown into the 
rivers on Holy Thursday, and it is thought that 
the custom was a survival from these old rites. 
Milton in Comus refers to the practice. 

Carol her good deeds loud in rustic lays 

And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream, 

Of pansies, pinks and daffodils. 

The jonquil is another variety of the same family. 

The science of language tells us that the name 
was conferred upon the narcissus from the Greek 
word narka, which means numbness, and is the root 
of the word narcotic. By its use medicinally torpor 
can be produced. There are about twenty varieties 
of the plant. They are marked by a cup, like a 
drinking glass, which widens at the top, and are 
grown from bulbs. 

Mahomet once said : 

He that has two cakes of bread, let him sell one 
for some flowers of the narcissus, for bread is the food 
of the body, but narcissus is the food of the soul. 

Perhaps the most noted verses about this flower 
are those of Wordsworth. 

The line of another English poet : " A thing of 
beauty is a joy forever," has become a household 



34 FLOWER LORE 

proverb. It is found in connection with his refer- 
ence to the daffodil : 

A thing of beauty is a joy forever. 

Its loveliness increases. It will never 

Pass into nothingness * * * 

* * * Such the sun, the moon. 

Trees old and young ; sprouting a shady boon 

For simple sheep ; and such are daffodils 

With the green world they live in. 

Keats, Endymion. 



THE DANDELION 

COQUETRY 

Dear common flower, that grow'st beside the way, 
Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold, 

First pledge of blithesome May, 

Which children pluck and, full of pride, uphold. 



Gold, such as thine, ne'er drew the Spanish prow 
Through the primeval hush of Indian seas, 

Nor wrinkled the lean brow 

Of age, to robe the lover's heart of ease: 

Tis the spring's largess, which she scatters now 
To rich and poor alike, with lavish hand, 
Though most hearts never understand, 

To take it at God's value, but pass by, 

The offered wealth with unrewarded eye. 

Lowell, To a Dandelion. 

Once upon a time the world was inhabited by 
fairies. Brownies and elves were skipping about 
in the grass. The trees were the homes of the 
wood-gnomes. The cheerful little flower-sprites, in 
their gay colored gowns, were flitting about in the 
sunshine. 

Suddenly human giants appeared, and the heavy 
foot of man wrought havoc and destruction in fairy- 

35 



36 FLOWER LORE 

land. The frightened little gnomes hid themselves 
deep in the earth. The elves sought shelter in crev- 
ices of the rocks. The brownies ran for the hollow 
trunks of trees. But the fairies loved the sun- 
shine, and could not live in the dark ground nor 
hollow trees. The poor little things did not know 
where to hide themselves, and in their terror they 
clung to the stems of plants — each to the plant that 
was nearest — while the Queen changed them all into 
flowers of the color of the gowns they were wear- 
ing, and wherever there had been a fairy, there was 
then a flower. 

That very morning a number of the fairies had 
appeared in new frocks, made of bright yellow 
sunbeams, and after all the excitement was over, 
these little people found themselves huddled close 
together on one stem, staring straight up at the sun. 
Botanists who do not know very much about fairies 
call this flower a composite; but every child knows 
that it is a real fairy family, and they are so kind 
and helpful to each other that all the little ones are 
put in the center, and the older and stronger ones 
form a circle around them for protection. By some 
very old authorities, this is said to have been the 
origin of the dandelion. 

The " gamin of the fields," as the plant is some- 
times called, is a native of Greece, and emigrated 
to this country, where it has made itself quite at 
home. It thrives under almost any conditions, al- 
though it prefers lanes and grassy fields. It bios- 



THE DANDELION 37 

soms during every month in the year, and is an in- 
teresting illustration of co-operation, the flower be- 
ing composed of from one to two hundred tiny 
blossoms, each perfect in itself, and together dem- 
onstrating most forcibly that " in union there is 
strength." 

It has managed without the aid of legislation to 
take possession of the soil in every part of the 
civilized world, and has so firmly established itself 
that any one who has tried to eradicate it from even 
one small lawn, although inclined to question the 
survival of the fittest, will be convinced that " never 
say die " is an appropriate motto. 

The name is derived from the French — dent de 
lion (a lion's tooth). In nearly every European 
country the plant bears a name of similar signifi- 
cance, presumably from its jagged leaf, which was 
thought to resemble the teeth of a lion, or from the 
root, which is very white, and thus like them. Some 
writers have associated the flower with the sun, and, 
as the lion was the animal symbol of that planet, 
have assumed that the flower received its name on 
that account. 

Among the country people, in Switzerland, the 
flower is known as the shepherd's clock, because it 
opens at five o'clock in the morning and closes at 
eight in the evening. The shepherds, in the moun- 
tains, often use it to guess at the time of day. The 
feathery seed-balls which succeed the yellow bios- 



38 FLOWER LORE 

som serve as a barometer to predict fine or stormy 
weather. 

These seed-balls are also consulted by young men 
and maidens as oracles. A lover being separated 
from his sweetheart, would carefully pick one of the 
feathery blooms and, whispering a tender message 
for each one of the downy petals, would blow them 
toward the spot where the loved one was. The 
feathers always carry the messages faithfully. If 
a maiden wished to know if her lover was thinking 
of her, she took a dandelion that had gone to seed 
and blew away the down. If after three puffs there 
was a single feather left, she might rest assured that 
she was not forgotten. This oracle was also con- 
sulted as to whether there was a lover, whether he 
lived north or south, east or west, and whether he 
was coming or not. Sir Walter Scott refers to this 
superstition. 

To dream of dandelions foreboded misfortune 
and treachery on the part of some loved one. There 
are few children who have not at some time made 
long slender curls out of dandelion stems, and used 
the blow-balls to find out whether or not mother 
wanted them. 

The plant is often called a weed. If Emerson's 
definition of a weed is correct, " a plant whose vir- 
tues have not yet been discovered," this classification 
is incorrect, for the plant has many useful prop- 
erties. Under the name taraxacum, it has been an 
important factor in medicine from ancient times. 



THE DANDELION 39 

Once it was held in high estimation as a remedy for 
consumption. Some medical authorities recommend 
it for dropsy, gastrjc derangement, and various skin 
diseases. 

It shelters itself from the sun's heat by closing 
its petals. Linnaeus enumerates forty-six flowers, 
and among them the dandelion, which protect them- 
selves in a similar way, classifying them as mete- 
oric, because they are affected by the atmosphere; 
as tropical, because they open and close earlier or 
later, as the length of the day increases or decreases ; 
and as an equinoctial, because they open and close at 
a regular time. Mrs. Smith refers very prettily to 
this in her Floras Horologe? : 

Thus in each flower and simple bell, 
That in our path betrodden lie, 

Are sweet remembrancers who tell 
How fast their winged moments fly. 

It is said that if the dandelion down flies when 
there is no wind it is a sign of rain. The stems are 
playthings for the children. They cut them into 
short pieces and string them like beads, wearing 
them as necklaces or bracelets. Sometimes they are 
split and made into wonderful curls, which are at- 
tached to the heads of little girls. The common 
schools throughout the country used to close at four 
o'clock in the afternoon, and truant boys blowing 
thistledown from the stem found it safe to go home 
when four or more of the gossamer spines were 



4 o FLOWER LORE 

left after one effective outpouring of the lungs. 
This practice has been referred to in verse : 

Dandelion with globe of down 
The schoolboy's clock in every town, 
Which the truant puffs amain 
To conjure lost hours again. 

The leaves are highly esteemed as a vegetable and 
for salad. The Apache Indians value them so 
highly that they will search the country for them 
for days, and the quantity that one individual will 
consume is almost beyond belief. In Germany, the 
roots are roasted and substituted for coffee by the 
peasants, and it is said that coffee made in this way 
can hardly be distinguished from that made from 
the real berry. Although it is such a common 
flower, it is a favorite with writers of both prose 
and poetry. Henry Ward Beecher in Star Papers 
speaks of them as " Golden kisses all over the cheeks 
of the meadow. ,, Thoreau calls them the gold 
which he has on deposit in country banks, the in- 
terest on which is to be health and enjoyment. Low- 
ell, in his Ode to a Dandelion, has given it a place in 
literature more exalted than that of many more 
aristocratic golden flowers. 

The difference between the glory of a dandelion 
in full bloom and the grave hoariness of its decay 
is very striking, and James Hurtis, an English poet, 
who died in 1801, made a fantastic use of this differ- 
ence in his Village Curate. It was an original mind 



THE DANDELION 41 

that could see in these two stages of a common 
weed the contrast between the flashy undergraduate 
and the grave divine of later years : 

Dandelion this, 
A college youth that flashes for a day, 
All gold, anon, he doffs his gaudy suit, 
Touched by the magic hand of some grave bishop, 
And all at once becomes a reverent divine — how sleek. 

But let me tell you in the pompous globe 
Which rounds the dandelion's head is couched 
Divinity most rare. 

Hurtis, Village Curate. 



THE LILY OF THE VALLEY 

^ \ RETURN OF HAPPINESS 

No flower amid the garden fairer grows 
Than the sweet lily of the lowly vale, 
The queen of flowers. 

Keats. 

The lily of the valley, or conval lily, is associated 
with religion and chivalry rather than mythology. 
In flower language it represents the return of hap- 
piness. With its beautiful blossoms, the rich green 
of its leaves, and its delicate fragrance, it is a fit 
harbinger of spring. In the Middle Ages, it was 
believed that it was the flower referred to by Christ 
when He bade the disciples consider the lilies of the 
field; but it is now conceded that the martagon, a 
tiger lily, was the lily of Palestine. The conval lily 
is a habitant of colder countries and is unknown in 
the dry, hot climate of the Holy Land. 

There is at least one legend as to the origin of 
the flower. About the year 559 a.d. there dwelt 
in the forest of Louvain, near Limoges, in France, 
a holy man known as St. Leonard. Having re- 
nounced all worldly things, he lived the life of a 
hermit in the depths of a wood. A huge dragon, 

42 



THE LILY OF THE VALLEY 43 

representing temptation, also dwelt there, and ter- 
rible combats took place between them. The beast 
was driven further and further back toward the edge 
of the forest until it finally disappeared altogether, 
leaving the saintly hermit the conqueror. The 
places of their battles were marked by beds of 
beautiful lilies of the valley, which came up wherever 
the ground was sprinkled with the blood of the holy 
man. Every spring they appeared anew and the 
air around was filled with their fragrance. 

One of the emblems of the Virgin is a lily of the 
valley among thorns. Our Lady's tears is a name 
by which the flower is known. For this reason, it 
was used, with other flowers, to decorate chapels, 
which were erected in honor of the Virgin. Being 
sometimes called the ladder to heaven, it is dedi- 
cated to Whitsuntide. As one of the blossoms that 
are supposed to belong peculiarly to St. George of 
England, it is also honored, t* 

In France, Germany, and Holland, lilies of the 
valley are known as mayflowers and in some parts 
of England they are called may lilies. 

Bishop Mant, in the Lily of the Valley, expresses 
very delicately the beauties of this little flower : 

Fair flower, that, lapt in lowly glade, 
Dost hide beneath the greenwood shade, 

Than whom the vernal gale 
None fairer wakes, on bank, or spray, 
Old England's lily of the may, 

Our lily of the vale. 



44 FLOWER LORE 

The leaves of the plant grow out from its creep- 
ing root and it is therefore known as a stemless 
plant, although its small, white, bell-shaped blos- 
soms are attached to a stem. 

Of thy twin leaves the embower'd screen 
Which wraps thee in thy shroud of green; 

Thy Eden-breathing smell, 
Thy arch'd and purple vestem stem, 
Whence pendent many a pearly gem, 

Displays a milk-white bell. 

Grimm, the fairy story-teller, says that in some 
Hessian townships the holders of land have to pay 
a " bunch of mayflowers " {%. e., lilies of the valley) 
every year as rent. This custom had its origin in 
a religious ceremony, but is still observed out of 
respect to tradition. 

Great medicinal properties were attributed by the 
ancients to this plant. A delicious, perfumed liquid 
was distilled from the blossoms, which was highly 
esteemed by the ancients as a remedy in nervous 
disorders. The liquid was regarded as of such 
value that it was kept only in bottles of silver and 
gold. 

It was also regarded as a cure for the gout. The 
old prescription read as follows : " Flowers of the 
lily of the valley being close stopped up in a glass, 
bury it in an ant hill for one month; taken out he 
shall find a liquid in the glass which, being out- 
wardly applied, helpeth the gout." 



THE LILY OF THE VALLEY 45 

Beauty doctors, who, in olden times, were called 
witches, used to prescribe its blossoms gathered be- 
fore sunrise and rubbed on the face as a cure for 
freckles. 

In some counties in England the country people 
regard it as very unlucky to transplant a bed of 
these lilies, and the person who does so is expected 
to die within the twelvemonth. 

Although it is usually thought of as a white 
flower, there are several varieties, and the poets 
have taken note of this in some of their allusions. 
One has red blossoms, which Leigh Hunt refers to 
as " little illumination lamps " ; while another has 
blossoms larger than the common sort, beautifully 
streaked with purple. 

Wordsworth, Keats, and Shelley make frequent 
allusions to this fairy flower, and all the English 
poets seem to have been familiar with it. Our own 
poets have not neglected it. Longfellow, Whittier, 
and Alice Cary have dedicated poems to its magic 
bells. 

Innocent child and snow-white flower! 
Well are ye paired in your opening hour: 
Thus should the pure and the lovely meet, 
Stainless with stainless, and sweet with the sweet. 

White as those leaves just blown apart, 
Are the folds of thy own young heart, 
Guilty passion and cankering care, 
Never have left their traces there. 

William Cullen Bryant, 

The Children and the Lily. 



THE VIOLET 

CONSTANCY — MODESTY 

The violet in her greenwood bower, 

Where birchen boughs with hazels mingle, 

May boast herself the fairest flower, 
In glen, or copse, or forest dingle. 

Scott, The Violet. 

The violet was dedicated to Orpheus and was 
under his especial protection, and it came about in 
this way: 

When the god of music, with his lyre, charmed 
all the birds and the beasts, and even the rocks and 
the trees were moved by the strains, the flowers also 
came and danced around him. As exhausted, he 
sank upon a green bank to rest, his lyre dropped 
from his hand. On the spot where it fell sprang 
up the beautiful purple violet. 

There are a number of other legends associated 
with its origin. It seems to have been a favorite 
with the ancients. Almost every classic writer has 
had something to tell of the little flower. One 
mythological story is that Juno, who was very jeal- 
ous of her husband, and with good reason, for Jupi- 
ter often neglected her, and was given to amusing 
himself with the nymphs, whenever he got a chance, 

46 



THE VIOLET 47 

was once very much surprised to have it turn dark 
suddenly, in the middle of the day. Her suspicions 
were immediately aroused. Brushing the dark 
cloud away as soon as possible, she saw Jupiter sit- 
ting quietly on the bank of a stream and near him 
a beautiful white heifer feeding. All around, in- 
stead of grass, the ground was covered with purple 
violets. She had her suspicions that it was some 
damsel whom Jupiter had transformed to deceive 
her, so she admired the animal and asked her hus- 
band to bestow it upon her as a gift. He could not 
well refuse his wife's request and consented. She 
had been correct in her conclusion. It was Io, the 
daughter of Inachus, the wind god, with whom 
Jupiter had been flirting, and whom he had changed 
into a heifer at the approach of his wife. Juno led 
poor Io a terrible life, until Mercury interceded for 
her, when, as Jupiter promised not to pay her any 
more attention, she was allowed to resume her own 
form and was restored to her parents. From 
this story is derived the Greek name of the 
violet, ion, because, wherever Io went, Jupiter 
caused these flowers to spring up for her to feed 
upon. 

The French poet, Rapin, gives another version 
of the origin of the flower. According to him, 
Midas, the King of Phrygia, had a beautiful daugh- 
ter called Ianthis, who was betrothed to Atys. 
Apollo saw her one day and was so delighted with 
her beauty that he demanded her in marriage. 



48 FLOWER LORE 

When her father, who hated him, refused to allow 
her to break with Atys, Apollo made up his mind 
to carry her off as Pluto did Proserpina. Ianthis 
was one of the maidens attendant upon Diana, and 
when the wicked sun-god seized her from his 
chariot, she called upon Diana to save her. The 
goddess, hearing her cry, changed her into a violet 
by the roadside. Hidden from sight, by her own 
green leaves, Apollo was forced to go away with- 
out her. Since then 

" The violets have blossomed in the shade, 
Which their own leaves have made." 

All violets are once said to have been white, but 
one variety became purple because Venus, sorrowing 
and forelorn, in seeking for Adonis, was impiously 
wounded on her foot by a thorn. The white vio- 
lets in reverence and sympathy bowed their pal- 
lid heads and caught the drops of divine blood. 
Thus the original hue was tinged as if by pur- 
ple dye. 

This story is retold in verse by Roscoe in Lorenzo 
de Medici: 

Once Venus sorrowing, as all forlorn 
She sought Adonis, when a lurking thorn 
Deep on her foot impressed an impious wound, 
Then prone to earth we bowed our pallid flowers, 
And sought the drops divine, the purple dyes 
Tinging the luster of our native hue. 



THE VIOLET 49 

Clare refers the painters to the flower as Nature's 
pattern for the color, and reminds them of how- 
impossible it will be to equal it : 

Violets, sweet tenants of the shade, 
In purple's richest pride array'd, 

Your errand here fulfil ; 
Go bid the artist's simple strain 
Your luster imitate in vain 

And match your Maker's skill. 

It is an old saying that a handful of violets, not 
less, must be taken into the farmhouse each spring, 
as neglect of this ceremony brings destruction to 
the young chickens and ducks. 

In the days of the Pilgrims, violets were used as 
playthings. A hook is formed where the stem and 
the blossom unite. Children interlaced these hooks 
and by pulling tested their luck, as with a wishbone. 
The one who succeeded in pulling off the blossom 
from the stem held by another was declared the 
winner. 

Still another tale is given by Herrick, the Eng- 
lish poet, who tells that the violets are descendants 
of some fair nymphs of whom Venus was jealous. 
One day she and Cupid had a dispute as to which 
was the sweetest. 

' And Venus having lost the day, 

Poore girls, she fell on you, 

And beat ye so, as some dare say 

Her blows did make ye blew. 



50 FLOWER LORE 

Some writers have thought that the name was 
derived from the Latin word via, meaning road or 
way, as the violet is often spoken of as a wayside 
flower. 

It was a favorite with both the Greeks and the 
Romans. It was as much the national flower of 
the Athenians as the rose is of England, or the lily 
of France. It was cultivated in Athens and on sale 
in the markets at all seasons of the year, even when 
the snow was on the ground. A popular way of 
addressing the men of Athens was " Athenians 
crowned with violets.' * 

The Romans, attributing medicinal qualities to 
it, were very much given to drinking a perfumed 
wine made from it. Pliny writes that a garland 
of violets, worn on the head, was a cure for head- 
ache and dizziness. Still later a paste made of 
violets and sugar was recommended for consump- 
tives. It was also used for love philters. 

In Persia, the finest sherbet of the Mohamme- 
dans was flavored with violets. There is a tradition 
that Mohammed once said : " The excellence of the 
extract of violets, above all other extracts, is as the 
excellence of Me above all the rest of creation." 

In England, in the olden times, the violet was re- 
garded as an emblem of constancy. Ladies gave 
one to their knights to wear as a symbol of faith- 
fulness. Our English forbears used to have a tra- 
dition that when roses and violets flourish late in 
the autumn it is a sign that a pestilence will ravage 



THE VIOLET 51 

during the ensuing year. This was possibly the 
origin of the belief, which now exists, that a mild, 
damp winter is not as healthful as a colder season. 
There was an old saying, that 

A green Christmas maketh a fat graveyard. 

At the floral games established by Clemence 
Isame, at Toulouse, in France, in 1323, the prize 
given to the writer of the best poem was a golden 
violet. These games are still celebrated there. 
They were discontinued during the French Revolu- 
tion, but were revived early in the nineteenth 
century. 

When the first Napoleon left for Elba, it was 
said that he told his friends that he would return 
with the violets. During his absence, the flower 
was the secret badge of his adherents. They wore 
rings and watch-guards of violet color. As Cor- 
poral Violett, he was toasted and spoken of among 
his followers from the time he left France. On 
his return from exile, on the 20th of March, 181 5, 
he was welcomed with showers of violets, which 
were then in full season. They continued to be the 
flower of the empire until after the battle of Water- 
loo, when it became dangerous to even be heard 
admiring them. No one dared even to wear one. 
It was so generally recognized as the flower of the 
Bonapartes that it is said that Eugenie, afterwards 
the Empress, signified her acceptance of the suit of 



52 FLOWER LORE 

Napoleon III by appearing at a ball at the Tuileries 
wearing these flowers. 

Many years ago G. J. Clarke wrote the following 
lines for a little girl, dressed as a violet, to speak at 
a May-day festival : 

Some plants, in gardens only found, 

Are raised with pains and care ; 
God scatters violets all around, 

They blossom everywhere. 
Some scentless flowers stand straight and high, 

With pride and haughtiness, 
But violets perfume land and sky 

Although they promise less. 

In literature, the poets of all ages and lands have 
sung its praises. Shakespeare's allusions to it are 
so many that some critics have felt justified in nam- 
ing it as his favorite. 

Byron has written some of his sweetest lines in 
praise of the " little purple flower." Keats often 
wrote of " violet-beds nestling in sylvan bowers." 
Tennyson wrote of " April violets," Our own 
American poets have not neglected them. Bryant, 
Lowell, Whittier, the Cary sisters, and many others 
have found inspiration in them. B. W. Procter, 
better known as Barry Cornwall, the author of some 
of the sweetest songs of the last century, writes 
thus: 

I love all things the seasons bring, 
All buds that start, all birds that sing, 
All leaves, from white to jet, 



THE VIOLET 53 

All the sweet words that summer sends, 
When she recalls her flowery friends, 
But chief — the violet. 

She comes, the first, the fairest thing 
That heaven upon the earth doth fling, 

Ere Winter's star has set; 
She dwells behind her leafy screen, 
And gives, as angels give, unseen. 

So, love — the violet! 

Barry Cornwall, The Violet. 



THE PANSY 

HEARTSEASE — THOUGHTS 

Heartsease ! One could look for half a day 
Upon this flower, and shape in fancy out 
Full twenty different tales of love and sorrow, 
That gave the gentle name. 

Mary Howitt. 

There is pansies, that's for thoughts. 

Shakespeare, Hamlet. 

The pansy is one of the oldest of garden flowers. 
Although it did not, as its sister violet, flourish in 
the garden of the gods, it is a flower of the people, 
and its cheapness and the ease with which it is cul- 
tivated have made it one of the most popular of 
plants. The name is a corruption of the French 
word pensees, meaning thoughts. Although the 
blossom is small, it has more and longer names than 
almost any other plant. In England alone, it has 
had at different times sixty distinct names, while in 
all Europe the number reaches to nearly two hun- 
dred. Among them the best known are heartsease, 
lady's delight, three-faces-under-a-hood, forget-me- 
not, love-in-idleness, cuddle-me-to-you, johnny- 
jump-up, kiss-me-at-the-garden-gate, and herb-trin- 
ity. Originally, as the story goes, it was of a milk- 

54 



THE PANSY 55 

white color. One night, just before Midsummer 
Eve, the fairies had gathered to make preparations 
for their annual revel, and were discussing what 
they could do to make the world brighter for their 
being here. One little one timidly made a sugges- 
tion that they make a new flower. The rest were 
greatly pleased, and the very next night they went 
to work. 

Getting out their paint boxes they took blue from 
the sky, different shades of red from the sunset 
clouds, yellow from the sunbeams, and a warm 
brown color from mother earth. These colors they 
mixed in a corn cup with their brushes made of 
dandelion down. All night they worked and when 
morning came there were the flowers gorgeously 
colored. Some of the fairies had sketched in por- 
traits of their fellows, so that the bed of pansies 
looked like a bed of cheerful little faces. The earth 
has been brighter and better, ever since, for that 
night's work. 

There is another fairy story about the flower. 

Once there were some very foolish little sprites, 
who fell in love with some handsome youths, whom 
they met during one of their visits to the earth. 
They were young and did not realize that " fairies 
cannot with mortals mate." When their Queen 
heard of it she was very angry, and forbade them 
ever to leave fairyland again. The poor little 
things pined away and died, and Cupid felt so sorry 
for them that he persuaded the Queen to change 



56 FLOWER LORE 

them into the flower called heartsease, the juice 
of which, 

" On sleeping eyelids laid 
Will cause a man or woman to madly dote, 
Upon the next live creature that it sees." 

Shakespeare has made use of this superstition 
in the Midsummer Night's Dream. In those days 
love philters were made from it. 

Another version of its origin is widely different 
from these. In a quaint, secluded spot there blos- 
somed a little flower of exquisite coloring and 
fragrance. It was such a modest blossom that it 
had sought the most retired spot that it could find. 
A bird which was hopping about among the grasses 
saw it and flew away to tell the world of its beauty. 
An angel, coming down to earth on a mission of 
mercy, heard the bird singing of this vision of 
loveliness and asked to be conducted to it. When 
she saw the blossom, she cried : " Oh, thou art in- 
deed lovely, too lovely to hide thus in the shade! 
Thou shalt go forth to gladden the world with 
thy beauty and to scatter sweet thoughts through- 
out the earth." Then, sealing her blessing with a 
kiss, she passed on, leaving the impress of her face 
upon the flower. Thus the pansy went out into 
the world to be a joy to all who behold it. 

The touch of the angel had given it a perfume 
sweeter even than that of its sister, the violet. But 
while the violet grew by the wayside and in sheltered 



THE PANSY 57 

nooks, the pansy blossomed in the open fields. Seek- 
ing it, the people trampled down the grain and de- 
stroyed the crops. So the self-sacrificing little 
flower prayed to the Holy Trinity to take away its 
perfume, in order that it might not be so much 
sought after and that no more damage might be 
wrought on its account. The. request was granted. 
The name Trinity-flower was given to the tender- 
hearted little blossom, in approval of its sacrifice. 
For centuries it was so known, and the name is not 
even yet obsolete in some parts of England. It is 
the flower used for Trinity Sunday. 

The curious construction of the pansy gives the 
imagination an opportunity to indulge in several 
quaint conceptions. In the center of every blossom 
lives a little old man, who, for punishment, must 
feel cold and be always wrapped up in a yellow 
blanket. He sits in the middle of the flower, with 
his feet in a foot tub, a queer little long narrow 
tub, so narrow that one wonders how he can get 
into it. If you will pick a pansy carefully apart 
you will see the little man, the little feet, and the 
little tub. 

In Scandinavia and Germany the flower is some- 
times called the stepmother. This is the reason. 
There are five heart-shaped petals and behind these 
are five green sepals. The lower petal is the step- 
mother, and behind this are two of the sepals. The 
petals on each side of her are her own daughters with 
a sepal apiece, while the two upper leaves are her 



58 FLOWER LORE 

stepdaughters and one sepal does duty for both. The 
country folk therefore say that the stepmother takes 
two chairs and gives her daughters each a chair, 
while the two stepdaughters have both to sit on 
the same chair. 

Growing wild the colors of the flower are not as 
beautiful as when cultivated. 

Children are very fond of it and many stories 
for them have been written about it. 

" The dear little pansies are lifting their heads, 
All purple and blue and gold. 
They're covering with beauty the garden beds, 
And hiding from sight the dull mold. 

Now all little children who try every day 

Kind-hearted and loving to be, 
Are helping the pansies to make the world bright, 

And beautiful, don't you see ? " 

The interesting formation of the flower was in- 
strumental in turning the thoughts of Bartram, the 
first American botanist, to the study of that sci- 
ence. Bartram was a farmer and while directing 
his men at work in a field, on his farm in Delaware 
County, Pennsylvania, he picked a pansy that was 
growing at his feet. Thoughtlessly he pulled the 
flower apart and the somewhat grotesque forma- 
tion of the blossom attracted his attention and 
aroused in his mind the interest in the habits and 
construction of plants, which made him an authority 



THE PANSY 59 

in his day and gained for him the friendship of the 
Swedish botanist, Linnaeus. 

In the time of Shakespeare and Spenser it was 
certainly a familiar 'garden flower. Milton spoke of 
it as the " pansy streak' d with jet." Rapin, the 
French poet, called it " Jove's flower, in which three 
colors meet." Herrick pays a most graceful tribute 
to it as the " frolick virgins." The guide in Bun- 
yan's Pilgrim's Progress called the attention of 
Christian and his sons to the shepherd boy singing 
to his sheep. " Do you hear him ? " he says. " I 
will dare say that this boy leads a merrier life and 
wears more of that herb called heartsease in his 
bosom than he that is clothed in silk and purple." 
Leigh Hunt writes of the flower with " gratitude " 
as one of the friends who adorned his " prison 
house " and the one " which outlasted all the rest." 
Writers for children, at the present time, find much 
in the pansy to emulate, and the plucky, cheerful 
little flower is frequently made use of to " point a 
moral and adorn a tale." 

The flower, as nature's poet sweetly sings, 

Was once milk white, and heartsease was its name, 
Till wanton Cupid poised his roseate wings 

A vestal's sacred bosom to inflame, 
Heartsease no more the wandering shepherd found. 

No more the nymphs its snowy form possess; 
Its white now changed to purple by love's wound, 

Heartsease now, no more — 'tis love in idleness. 
Mrs. Sheridan, Heartsease. 



THE MIGNONETTE 

YOUR QUALITIES SURPASS YOUR CHARMS 

Who gave you your name, Little Darling? 

I wish that I knew, 
Such a tiny, sweet, lovable blossom ; 

I half think that you grew 
In the Garden of old, and believe 
You were christened by Eve. 

So whether in France or in Eden, 

'Tis all one to me, 
Yours is just the best name, Little Darling, 

Could possibly be, 
And though no one had taught me, I yet 
Should say — Mignonette. 

Susan Coolidge. 

Lord Bacon, in his delectable essay on Gardens, 
says that because the breath of flowers is far sweeter 
in the air, " where it comes and goes like the 
warbling of music, than in the hand; therefore, 
nothing is more fit for that delight than to know 
something of the flowers that do best perfume the 
air." 

Among the simplest and sweetest-scented of these 
flowers is the fragrant mignonette. It is a native 
of Egypt, and among the ancients was known by 

60 



THE MIGNONETTE 61 

the generic name of reseda, the meaning of which 
is " to assuage." In the days of the elder Pliny 
it grew luxuriantly near the city of Ariminum, now 
called Remini, in Italy, and was held in great esteem 
as a sedative for pain. It was also considered effi- 
cacious in reducing swellings and in allaying inflam- 
mation. When used for the latter purpose, it was 
the custom to expectorate three times upon the 
ground, each time repeating these words: 

" Reseda cause these maladies to cease, 
Knowest thou, knowest thou who has driven these 

pullets here ? 
Let thy roots have neither head nor foot." 

The flower was introduced into Southern France 
from Egypt about the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, where it, at once, became very popular under 
the designation of mignonette, and this most appro- 
priate name has clung to it ever since. 

It was not long before it became almost as pop- 
ular in England and the London florists were kept 
busy supplying the window-boxes and balcony- 
gardens of that city. One writer, describing Lon- 
don in 1790, writes that even in the lanes and 
alleys were seen small boxes and pots in which the 
fragrant plant was growing. 

One reason for its great popularity was the be- 
lief that it warded off certain diseases, which are 
carried through the air. Cowper, who was just 
twenty-one when the flower first made its appear- 



62 FLOWER LORE 

ance in London, made note of its popularity in The 
Task: 

Sashes fronted with a range 

Of the fragrant herb, the Frenchman's darling. 

In France, at the present time, the plant is culti- 
vated in large quantities for use in the manufacture 
of perfumes. It is sometimes called dyer's rocket, 
on account of the resemblance of the leaves to a 
rocket and because it is made use of by dyers to 
color woolen stuffs yellow. Some botanists note the 
fact that the blossoms always follow the course of 
the sun, even upon a cloudy day, turning at sunrise 
toward the east, at noon toward the south, and in 
the evening facing the west. 

The following account of the origin of the flower 
is current among French children: 

There was once a young girl who was most un-, 
happy because she was so homely that she thought 
no .one would ever love her. She shut herself up 
and wept most of the time. One day when she 
was feeling very sad, an old woman suddenly ap- 
peared and asked her why she was weeping. The 
maiden replied that she longed to be beautiful so 
that every one would love her. The fairy, for it 
was a fairy, said : " If you will do just as I tell you 
for one year, your wish will be granted. Go out 
into the world, and never let an hour pass without 
doing something to make some one* happier, and do 
not look into a mirror until I come again." The 



THE MIGNONETTE 63 

old woman disappeared and where she had been 
standing was a plant growing in a flower-pot. The 
blossoms were insignificant, but the sweet odor filled 
the room. When the young girl saw it, she ex- 
claimed: "Oh! the little darling." She put the 
plant carefully on the window-sill and started at 
once on her mission. She became so interested in 
helping people and in showing kindness to every 
one, old and young, who came in her way, that she 
forgot all about her looks, and the year passed so 
quickly that she hardly knew where it was gone. 
One day, when she was tending her plant, which 
had spread all over the window-garden, the fairy 
suddenly appeared again, and holding a mirror be- 
fore the young girl, said, "Look." The girl could 
hardly believe that it was her own face that the 
glass reflected. Her eyes, which had been dim with 
weeping, were now bright and clear. Her cheeks 
were rosy and the whole expression of her face had 
changed. No one would dream of calling her even 
plain. The fairy smiled and said : " You have 
filled your heart with such beautiful thoughts and 
your life with such beautiful deeds that a beautiful 
soul shines in your face. Your wish is granted, 
and like the flower I left, you will create a sweet 
atmosphere about you wherever you go." The 
fairy disappeared and the flower has ever since 
been known as mignonette, which means little 
darling. 

As herbe d'awwur, or love-flower, it has been 



64 FLOWER LORE 

given a proud place in the armorial bearings of one 
of the noble families of Saxony. One of the Counts 
of Walsthim was betrothed to Amelia von Nord- 
bourg, a beautiful woman and an heiress, but also 
a coquette and very frivolous. As she was the only 
child of her widowed mother, her cousin Charlotte 
had been brought up with her from infancy as a 
companion. Charlotte, who was plain in appear- 
ance and had no dowry, received little attention 
in the gay circle of which her brilliant cousin was 
the center. One evening when a number of young 
people were gathered in the von Nordbourg draw- 
ing-room, it was suggested that each lady choose 
a flower, and the gentleman, to whom she should 
present it, must compose an appropriate verse. 
Charlotte, entering the room after most of the 
flowers had been selected, modestly chose a small 
sprig of mignonette. Amelia's choice had been the 
rose, and during the entire evening she had been 
receiving with evident pleasure the devoted atten- 
tion of a dashing but rather disreputable colonel, to 
the evident annoyance of her betrothed. Charlotte, 
noticing the vexation of the nobleman, and desirous 
of recalling the wayward beauty to a sense of pro- 
priety, inquired what motto he had prepared for the 
rose. The Count saw through this affectionate ruse, 
and taking his pencil, wrote : 

Its life is granted for a day, 

Its pleasures but a moment stay, 



THE MIGNONETTE 65 

which he handed to Amelia, at the same time pre- 
senting to Charlotte this line on the mignonette : 

' Its qualities surpass its charms. 

Amelia was so piqued at her lover's reproof that 
she carried her neglect too far and the count trans- 
ferred his affections to her less attractive cousin. 
Upon his marriage to Charlotte he added a sprig 
of mignonette to his family arms, with the motto : 
11 Your qualities surpass your charms." 

French writers of the latter part of the eighteenth 
and the early part of the nineteenth century paid 
much attention to the mignonette, and frequent 
reference is made to it by the English poets, although 
few poems are devoted exclusively to it. In de- 
scriptions of old gardens, particularly in Disraeli's 
works, it is given prominent mention. 

Perhaps one of the most delicate tributes to the 
flower was paid by Bret Harte : 

The delicate odor of mignonette, 

The ghost of a dead and gone bouquet, 

Is all that tells her story ; yet, 

Could she think of a sweeter way? 

* * * * %. sf: ;jc 

But whether she came as a sweet perfume, 
Or whether a spirit in stole of white, 

I feel as I pass from the darkened room, 
She has been with my soul tonight. 

Bret Harte, Romance of Newport. 



THE BUTTERCUP 

RICHES — MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD 

I never see a young hand hold 
The starry bunch of green and gold, 
But something warm and fresh will start 
About the region of my heart. 

Eliza Cook. 

The rich buttercup 
Its tiny polished urn holds up, 
Filled with ripe summer to the edge. 

Lowell. 

Buttercup is the pet name for the bright little 
flower which Thoreau, the " Hermit of Walden," 
has called the " gold of the meadow. " The fam- 
ily name of the flower is crowfoot, which, like most 
surnames, had its origin in something especially 
appropriate to the object named, as the leaves of 
the plant are shaped something like a crow's foot. 
The botanical name of the flower is ranunculus, 
the diminutive of rana, which means frog, and was 
given to it in the very ancient times because it so 
often grew in places where the frogs sing. An- 
other reason for giving it the name is beautifully 
told by Herrick, the English poet. Ranunculus was 
a Libyan youth, who was noted for his melodious 
voice and his gorgeous attire. He dressed alto- 

66 



THE BUTTERCUP 67 

gether in green and yellow silk, and sang so sweetly 
that every one who heard him was charmed. He 
himself would often forget that any one was listen- 
ing to him. One day when he was singing to a 
group of wood nymphs, he became so entranced 
with his own music that he expired in ecstasy and 
Orpheus transformed him into the brilliant little 
flower that bears his name. 

Tall crowfoot, one variety of buttercup, is sup- 
posed to be the plant referred to by Pliny as con- 
vivial, or the laughing leaves, which, when mixed 
with wine and myrrh and taken as a drink, caused 
strange visions to present themselves. It would ex- 
cite the most inordinate laughter that often ended 
in death from convulsions. The only remedy he 
says for this singular condition was to dissolve pine- 
apple kernels with pepper in wine from the date tree. 
It also has powerful caustic properties and it is said 
that if the leaves are bruised and applied to the skin, 
blisters, like those produced by the action of fire, 
will be raised. It was used by the ancients as a 
severe remedy in cases of leprosy and for removing 
birthmarks. Beggars sometimes resorted to it to 
produce sores upon their limbs to excite sympathy. 
The root was reputed to be a certain cure for in- 
sanity, if gathered at the wane of the moon, 
wrapped in a linen cloth, and suspended around the 
neck of the person affected. Feeding cattle avoid 
it. If they happen to get it, a blistered mouth is 
the result. 



68 FLOWER LORE 

The Turks paid especial attention to its cultiva- 
tion. Long before it was noticed in Europe, one 
of their viziers saw it growing among the grasses 
of the fields and caused it to be transplanted to the 
gardens of the seraglio, where it attracted the at- 
tention of the Sultan. He ordered as many vari- 
eties as possible to be planted there and care fully- 
guarded. Through bribery, some specimens at last 
found their way into Europe. It is a social flower ; 
shunning the gloom and shadow of the wood, flour- 
ishing only in the sunshine, and never thriving far 
from the habitation of men. No flower, except the 
daisy, is so closely associated with childhood. 

When Iris was made the messenger for the gods, 
the sun and the ocean built a bridge for her of 
beautiful colors like the rainbow. One end rested 
in the sky and the other was fastened to the earth 
by a large bag of gold. Many had started in quest 
of this gold, but no one had ever succeeded in find- 
ing it. At last a little boy heard of it, and deter- 
mining to make it the main object of his life to 
secure this treasure, he left everything, father, 
mother, home, friends, and started on his long jour- 
ney. For many years he traveled, but seemed to 
get no nearer to his goal. One night after he had 
lain down to rest, worn out with a long day of 
travel, a beautiful lady in shining white robes ap- 
peared to him, and holding up a mirror, said : " Be- 
hold! " He looked and instead of the innocent boy 
who had started on the long quest, he saw an old 



THE BUTTERCUP 69 

man, worn, gray, and wrinkled. The shining lady 
looked at him sadly and said : " You will attain 
the object of your search, but, as you have never 
turned aside to give pleasure to others, or to succor 
those in distress, so your wealth will bring you no 
happiness." She disappeared, and when he arose 
he found himself standing on the brow of a cliff 
overlooking a deep valley. There had been a gentle 
shower, the sun shone through the raindrops, and 
the beautiful bridge seemed to end in the valley at 
his feet. The old man clambered down the hill- 
side, and where the end of the rainbow apparently 
touched the earth he found his long-sought treasure. 
Afraid that if any one knew of his wealth they 
might ask for some of it, he determined to hide it 
in the earth. Waiting until it was dark, he took 
the bag on his back and stole carefully along be- 
side the brook and through the meadow in search 
of a good place to secrete his gold. The fairies 
were holding a conservation congress in that very 
meadow to decide the best way to preserve to the 
world kindness, unselfishness, and happiness. As 
the old man crept along an elf stepped up behind 
him, and, with a sharp blade of grass, cut a small 
hole in his bag. One by one the pieces of yellow 
gold dropped out and lay among the grass. When 
the old man reached his destination his bag was 
empty, but all along behind him sparkled the gold 
pieces he had dropped. One of the fairies sug- 
gested that they fasten stems to them, so that they 



70 FLOWER LORE 

might not sink into the ground. All night long 
the little people worked, and when the sun rose in 
the morning, the grassy meadow was sprinkled with 
beautiful yellow flowers, clear down to the side of 
the brook. When the children wondered how they 
came there, the fairies smiled to themselves, for 
they knew all about it, while the old man was so 
angry, when he found his treasure gone, that he 
quickly disappeared, and no one ever saw him again. 
The buttercups have been blooming ever since. 
Children still hold them under the chin to test their 
fondness for butter, as they search for the gold at 
the end of the rainbow, while near by the little 
frogs almost burst with their own music. 

Quite an extensive bibliography might be made 
on the buttercup and while a large proportion would 
be classed under children their elders would find 
much that is interesting. Thoreau, Higginson, and 
John Burroughs have all moralized over the cheer- 
ful little flower. Dr. Hugh McMillan, of Glasgow, 
has written a wonderful chapter on the " flower of 
the buttercup." Under the name of king's cup, 
great English writers have made many references 
to it, but most of the poets, grave and gay, agree 
with Browning that it is "the children's dower/' 
and all seem to find it redolent with " memories of 
childhood." 

I pluck the flowers I plucked of old 
About my feet — yet fresh and cold, 
The buttercups do bend ; 



THE BUTTERCUP 71 

The self-same buttercups they seem, 
All in their bright-eyed green, and such 

As when to me their blissful gleam 
Was all earth's gold — how much? 

Owen Meredith. 



THE FORGET-ME-NOT 

REMEMBRANCE 

Pray tell me, sweet forget-me-not, 
Oh, kindly tell me where you got 

Your curious name? 
I'm most desirous to be told 
The legend or romance of old 

From whence it came. 

Oliver Herford. 

Myosotis is the family name of the little blue 
flower that we know as forget-me-not. In almost 
every European language it bears a name with the 
same meaning, and each nation has its own tradi- 
tion as to the origin of the meaning. The one that 
takes precedence by reason of its antiquity is cred- 
ited to the East. When Adam gave names to all 
the flowers in the Garden of Eden, he cautioned 
them to be careful not to forget their names. One 
little blue flower was inattentive and had to go back 
to the gardener to ask him the name which he had 
given it. The first school-master looked down kindly 
on the poor little frightened blossom and said, " For- 
get-not." Ever since it has borne that name. 

The Greeks tell us that in the golden age of the 
early world a messenger of Jupiter fell in love with 

72 



THE FORGET-ME-NOT 73 

a mortal maiden and in consequence was shut out of 
Paradise. He sat outside the gate weeping until 
Jove, taking pity on him, gave him a quantity of 
seed, and told him* that when they had planted it 
beside every brook and pool in every corner of the 
world he would admit them to his presence. The 
messenger and his loved one wandered up and down 
the face of the earth for years, and when their 
task was finished the gates opened and they were 
admitted to the heaven of the gods. The maiden 
was permitted to become immortal without tasting 
the pangs of death, because of the service she had 
assisted in rendering to mortals. After the gates 
had closed upon them, wherever they had planted 
the seed the forget-me-not sprang up, and it is still 
a perpetual reminder of their faithfulness to each 
other and to their work. 

In Germany there is an element of tragedy con- 
nected with the name of the flower, which appeals 
to all young people. A knight and his lady-love, 
on the eve of their marriage, while walking on the 
banks of the Danube, saw a spray of beautiful blue 
flowers which the water had dislodged and was 
about to carry down the stream. She expressed a 
wish for them and her lover, plunging into the 
water, grasped the flowers, but the current was too 
strong for him. As it carried him past the weep- 
ing maid he threw the flowers on the bank saying, 
as he was swept on toward the sea, " Ver- 
gissrneinnicht" which means forget me not, and 



74 FLOWER LORE 

by that name the flower has ever since been 
known. 

Mills, in the History of Chivalry, tells the tale. 
A verse about the occurrence is translated thus : 

And the lady fair, of the knight so true, 

Ay remembered his hopeless lot, 
And she cherished the flower of brilliant hue, 
And braided her hair with the blossoms blue, 

And she called it forget-me-not. 

It is related that the Princess Marie and Napoleon 
were once walking by the Rhine, when the wind 
blew a flower from her hair into the water. With 
the legend in mind she exclaimed, " What a chance 
for a knight of the olden time ! " Napoleon imme- 
diately sprang into the water after it, but on reach- 
ing shore, nearly drowned, said to her, " Take it, 
Marie, but never again speak to me of an ancient 
knight." 

In Teutonic fairy tales it is classed with the luck 
or key-flowers, which have the magical power of 
opening mountain sides or subterranean caverns and 
disclosing treasure. Grimm, the fairy story-teller, 
makes use of this quality of the flower in several 
of his stories. One of them tells of a shepherd, 
who, while wandering over a mountain, picked a 
sprig of blue flower and placed it in his hat band. 
Immediately a door in the side of the hill opened 
and the man entered a passage which led into a 
beautiful room filled with gold and precious stones. 



THE FORGET-ME-NOT 75 

In his eagerness to carry away as much as possible 
of the treasure he took off his hat to use as a 
receptacle and the key-flower dropped to the ground. 
As he turned to leave the cavern a faint voice called 
to him, " Forget not the best." He went back and 
selected several more of the finest jewels, but he 
never thought of the little flower that he had 
gathered on the mountain side. As he passed 
through the opening the mountain closed and 
crushed him to death. 

The exact counterpart of the flower, as it grows 
in the Alps, in Switzerland, has been found on 
Mount Holmes, in the National Yellowstone Park, 
in Montana. It is botanically known as myosotis 
alpestris. 

The forget-me-not, like the red-and-white rose, 
had its place in English history. When Henry of 
Lancaster was banished by Richard, he chose it for 
his emblem and the words, " Couveigne vous de 
moi," as his motto. They were woven into his 
knight's collar. His adherents, following his ex- 
ample, wore forget-me-nots as an evidence of their 
fidelity. One of these collars, made of gold with 
the flowers and motto enameled in blue, was given 
as a prize at a famous tournament, during the reign 
of Edward IV. It was won by Lord Scales, the 
brother of the Queen. More than one historian is 
authority for the fact that after the battle of Water- 
loo an immense quantity of forget-me-nots sprang 
up in different parts of the battlefield. 



76 FLOWER LORE 

The Italians tell of a beautiful maiden who was 
beloved of the gods, and when she was drowned 
they transformed her into the blue forget-me-not, 
growing on the river bank. The name myosotis is 
derived from the Greek and signifies mouse-ear, be- 
cause of the shape of the leaves. Another name 
by which the plant used to be called was scorpion- 
grass, perhaps on account of the spike resembling 
the tail of a scorpion. It was popularly supposed 
to be a cure for the bite of that animal. 

Many flowers are assigned as appropriate to par- 
ticular days. The day of the forget-me-not is Feb- 
ruary 29th. 

In England, France, and the Netherlands, about 
the Middle Ages, the name forget-me-not was given 
to the ground pine on account of the bitter taste it 
leaves in the mouth, and in some parts of England 
it used to be called speed-well, because when the 
blossoms fell off they blew away. The name which 
was perpetuated by the ship that came to New Eng- 
land in the time of the Pilgrims is an ancient form 
of bidding farewell or good-by. 

There is hardly a poet who has not, at some time 
or other, taken the forget-me-not as a theme. Most 
of them use it in a sentimental fashion, but not all. 
Goethe calls it " still the liveliest flower, the fairest 
of the fair." 

Coleridge writes : " Hope's gentle gem, the sweet 
forget-me-not. " Longfellow called the stars " the 
forget-me-nots of the angels," and Eugene Field 



THE FORGET-ME-NOT 77 

tells of the " solace and peace of forget-me-not." 
One poet pays this tribute to the little blue flower : 

Of all the flowers that deck the field, 
Or grace the garden of the heart, 

Though others richer perfume yield, 
The sweetest is forget-me-not. 

Anonymous. 



THE HYACINTH 

SPORT — GAM E — PLAY 

And the hyacinth purple, and white, and blue, 
Which flung from its bells a sweet peal anew, 
Of music so delicate, soft, and intense, 
It was felt like an odor within the sense. 

Shelley. 

Apollo, the god of music, was devoted to a La- 
conian youth, named Hyacinthus. He loved him 
so much that he was unhappy when they were not 
together. As companions, they hunted, fished, 
roamed the forest, and played games. 

One day, as they were throwing quoits, Apollo, 
pitching with great strength, sent the discus with 
much force through the air. Hyacinthus, excited, 
ran forward eager to meet his throw. The quoit 
swerved and hit him in the forehead. He fell to 
the earth, and Apollo, heart-broken at the sight of 
his pale face and flowing blood, tried every art to 
restore him to consciousness, but in vain. Weep- 
ing over his dead friend, he said : " Thy death is 
at my door; would that I could die for thee, but 
since that cannot be, my lyre shall keep thy memory 
alive, my song shall tell thy fate." 

When he had finished speaking, lo! — the blood 

78 



THE HYACINTH 79 

which had stained the sod was blood no longer. A 
beautiful flower had sprung up, the stalk of which 
was hung with lovely purple bells. This flower will 
forever bear the name of Hyacinthus, and each 
spring revive his memory. 

Zephyr, the west wind, also loved him and was 
very jealous of his affection for Apollo. It was 
said by some of those who were watching the game 
that he puffed the discus out of its course, uninten- 
tionally causing the blow. An annual celebration 
was established in Laconia to commemorate the 
event. It lasted three days, during which the peo- 
ple ate no bread, but lived entirely on sweets and 
refrained from wearing garlands in their hair. On 
the second day a company of youths entertained the 
public by playing on the harp and flute and singing 
choruses to Apollo. Others appeared upon richly 
caparisoned horses, singing country folk-songs, while 
the throng who accompanied them danced to the 
music. Beautiful maidens, magnificently appareled, 
rode in canopied wagons drawn by bullocks, and 
sang hymns. Some took part in chariot races. 
Many victims were sacrificed to the sun-god and 
the worshipers were lavish in their hospitality. 
There has been much discussion in regard to the 
hyacinth, and the claim of the modern flower to 
be the blossom which sprung from the blood of 
Hyacinthus has been disputed. By some it is as- 
serted that the martagon lily, or Turk's cap, was 
the plant referred to by the poet Ovid, who tells 



80 FLOWER LORE 

the story. This is probably correct as the common 
hyacinth has neither the blood color nor the marks 
which resemble the Greek 'ai, 'ai, meaning alas, the 
cry which the storied legend requires. These marks 
are only found upon the Turk's cap. Claims have 
also been made in behalf of the gladiolus and the 
larkspur. 

Homer mentions the hyacinth as among the 
flowers that decked the couch of Jupiter. Poets 
often describe curly hair as " hyacinthine locks"; 
the tightly curled leaves of the flower being repre- 
sentative of the hair of Hyacinthus, which was very 
curly. 

Leigh Hunt, in his Songs and Chorus of the 
Flowers, said : 

Drooping grace unfurls 
Still Hyacinthus curls. 

In the Grecian isles the bridal wreaths were made 
of hyacinths and crowns of the blossom were worn 
by the maidens who attended the bride. 

Curiously, this flower is also associated with death. 
The emanations from it are reputed to be very 
poisonous when inhaled in large quantity. 

In France is recorded a murder which was said 
to have been accomplished by filling the room of the 
victim with hyacinths while he was sleeping. 

In Holland the plant is the pride of the Dutch 
florists. Although the craze for it never reached 
the extent of the tulip mania, it has been and still 



THE HYACINTH 8 1 

is a great source of wealth. In 1890 a tract of 
land equal to a thousand English acres was in use 
for cultivating the bulbs, and it was estimated that 
nearly forty thousand persons were directly depend- 
ent on the trade for their livelihood. 

The credit for having produced the first double 
hyacinth is given to Peter Voerhelm, a florist of 
Harlem. For one bulb he is said to have received 
a thousand pounds sterling. He called it the King 
of Great Britain, and it is considered the oldest 
double variety in existence. From the time of the 
ancients until the present day we find many allusions 
to the flower in literature. Milton, Byron, Burns, 
and Collins have each given it a place in verse. 
Burns makes it an emblem of fidelity : 

The hyacinth for constancy wi' its unchanging blue. 

The common variety is often called the harebell 
by poetical writers, and under that name has re- 
ceived countless poetical tributes, although its right 
to retain them is now contested. 

The purple blossom which sprung from the blood 
of Hyacinthus is emblematic of the sorrowful and 
sad: 

The melancholy hyacinth that weeps all night, 
And never lifts an eye all day. 

The white one represents unobtrusive loveliness : 

The daintiest flowers that were ever seen, 
Each a pearly bell. 



82 FLOWER LORE 

Hidden so well that no one could guess, 

From the bulb in the earth, 
What an exquisite angel of loveliness 

Was waiting for birth. 

Sj« 5j? « $ !fc Ht * # 

Then some day, lovely as a queen 

From fairyland, 
All snowy white, 'twixt leaves of green 

My flower will stand ! 

Mary E. Atkinson, The Hyacinth. 



THE MARGUERITE. A DAISY 

INNOCENCE 

There is a flower, a little flower, 
With silver crest and golden eye : 

That welcomes every changing hour, 
And weathers every sky. 

Montgomery, The Daisy. 

We meet thee like a pleasant thought. 

Wordsworth, To a Daisy. 

According to the classic legend, it owes its origin 
to Bellis, a dryad or nymph of the wood, who was 
one of the granddaughters of Danseus and the be- 
trothed of Epigeus. One day when she was danc- 
ing with him she attracted the attention of Vertum- 
nus, the deity of fruit trees. Determining to marry 
her, in spite of Epigeus, and that she might be 
concealed from him, he changed her into a flower 
which in the scientific world bears her name. 

Some writers have dedicated the daisy to infancy 
as the flower of innocence, and the Celtic version 
of its origin is their authority. The story is found 
in the poems of Ossian, a mythical bard of Ireland. 

Malvina, the daughter of Toscar of Lutha, when 
her infant son was taken from her, was inconsolable, 
and, while she was bemoaning her loss, the maidens 
of the court of the King of Morven came to her 

«3 



84 FLOWER LORE 

and told her that they had seen her beautiful boy 
approaching them in a light mist, looking radiantly 
happy and dropping over the fields a new flower 
with a golden disk, which was surrounded by silver 
leaves like the rays of the sun. As the blossoms 
stirred gently in the breeze they looked like infants 
playing in a green meadow. The maidens called 
the flower the " day's-eye," because it closed at night 
and opened with the first beam of day. Its German 
name means meadow pearl, while in France it is 
marguerite, which also means pearl. 

It is not always the rarest or most expensive 
flower that takes the most prominent place in his- 
tory. Margaret of Anjou, the unhappy wife of 
Henry VI of England, when a little girl, chose the 
marguerite for her emblem, and when she came to 
England all the nobles of the court and their wives 
and daughters wore daisies to welcome the French 
bride. The King had her emblem flower engraved 
on all his plate. Margaret, the sister whom Francis I 
loved so deafly that he called her the " Marguerite 
of marguerites," and also her daughter Margaret, 
chose this flower for their own. When the latter 
was married, she was presented with a basket of 
daisies accompanied by the sentiment : " All flowers 
have charms, but though I had the choice of a thou- 
sand, I should choose the marguerite." 

Philip the Bald, of Burgundy, instituted an " or- 
der of the daisy " in honor of his wife, Margaret of 
Flanders. 



THE MARGUERITE. A DAISY 85 

Louis IX, called St. Louis, who married a Mar- 
garet, had a daisy engraved on his signet-ring to- 
gether with a cross and a lily, which he said stood 
for all that he held, dear, religion, France, and love. 
Margaret of Richmond, mother of Henry VII, used 
as her device three daisies on a green field. In 
1868, when Prince Humbert, the first king of United 
Italy, married Margaret of Savoy, the people cele- 
brated the event by wearing wreaths and bouquets 
of the name flower of the Princess, and among 
her wedding gifts was a necklace from Victor Em- 
manuel made of gold and pearls set as marguerites. 

The flower was especially regarded as belonging 
to young maidens, and was used by them as an 
oracle to test the fidelity of their lovers. Goethe 
uses this superstition with wonderful effect in the 
scene between Marguerite and Faust. The roots 
of the plant placed under the pillow were supposed 
to induce pleasant dreams of absent loved ones, but 
while in the spring it was considered fortunate to 
dream of daisies, in the winter it was most unlucky. 

For years a charming feature of class-day at Vas- 
sar has been that in which the daisy plays a promi- 
nent part. The college is surrounded by fields, 
which at commencement time are white with the 
flower. The sophomore classes gather them and 
weave them into a chain, which is sometimes one 
hundred and eighty feet long. At the planting of 
the senior class tree, twenty-four girls, who have 
been selected by vote as the handsomest girls in 



86 FLOWER LORE 

the class, wearing white gowns, precede the seniors, 
carrying the daisy-chain fastened from their shoul- 
ders. It is no light task, for the chain is very heavy ; 
sometimes each girl sustains as much as twenty 
pounds in weight. At the commencement in 191 6 
it was decided to abandon this beautiful ceremonial, 
because, it is said, the choice of the twenty-four 
most beautiful maidens has deteriorated into a 
" beauty contest," which occasions hard feeling not 
becoming to the dignity of an institution of learn- 
ing. If the maids were merely selected by lot the 
custom which has meant so much to the institution 
might still go on. In 19 17 the vote was in favor of 
restoring the daisy chain. A similar custom exists 
at Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass. 

Younger girls also play with the daisies. The 
yellow disks, when the petals are gone, make pump- 
kin pies for the doll's table. By clipping off the 
rays to shape a cap and leaving two long ones for 
strings, with a little ink, a capped grandmother's 
head and face are made. 

In literature the daisy has a place only second to 
the rose. It was a favorite with Chaucer, who says 
of all flowers he loves it the most, and in the Legend 
of Good Women he tells of Queen Alceste, who 
was changed into an " ee of the Daie," each leaf 
representing one of her virtues. Ben Jonson and 
Dryden both write of it in glowing measures. 
Shakespeare names it among the flowers of poor 
Ophelia's fatal garland. Dante, in one of his 



THE MARGUERITE. A DAISY 87 

visions of Paradise, sees it as one of the flowers of 
the blest, with its face ever turned toward God. 
Readers of Goethe and Schiller are familiar with 
their treatment of the little " oracle " and later 
writers have not neglected to sing its praises. 
Keats, when dying, said he could already feel daisies 
growing on his grave. 

In church circles, it is the flower of St. Margaret 
of the Dragon, whose special day is June 20th, when 
the blossoms are at their best. Soon after St. 
Augustine came to England he saw a field covered 
with them. Overcome by the sight, falling on his 
knees, he exclaimed : " Behold ! a hundred pearls, so 
will the spirits of the blest shine in heaven." Once 
when he was about to speak to a large audience, 
out of doors, he observed a boy wearing a daisy 
chain. Taking it, he pulled the flowers slowly apart 
before the crowd as he preached his great sermon 
on Christian brotherhood. 

" The sun," he said, " has imaged himself in the 
center of each of these flowers, as the Sun of 
Righteousness will image Himself in each of your 
hearts. From this sun in the daisy white rays 
spread round. So may the rays of purity and good- 
ness spread around you, reflected from the light of 
heaven within you. As these flowers are strung 
together in a chain, so may you in England be 
united to each other, and to the holy churches of 
the world, by a chain that shall never be broken. 
Unlike the feeble stems of these daisies, that a 



88 FLOWER LORE 

child's fingers can sever, may the links of your 
chain be indissolubly connected, not to be broken, 
though strained and divided in ages to come, until 
the great Creator of your being shall bring you all 
safe into His everlasting kingdom." 

Great honors were paid to the daisy by Chaucer 
and the old English poets: 

Daisies, ye flowers of lowly birth, 
Embroiderers of the carpet earth, 

That stud the velvet sod ; 
Open to spring's refreshing air, 
In sweetest smiling bloom declare 

Your Maker and my God. 

Clare, Bowing Adorers. 



THE PEONY 

BASHFULNESS 

Erect in all her crimson pomp you'll see 
With bushy leaves the graceful peony. 

Rapin. 

^Esculapius was the son of Apollo, and while 
still an infant was intrusted to the care of Chiron, 
the wisest and most just of all the centaurs. He 
bestowed upon the youth much care and instructed 
him so thoroughly in the art of healing that when 
he was grown he was renowned for his skill and 
knowledge and was known as the pczon, or helper, 
and was the first physician of the gods. One day 
Hippolytus was killed by a fall from his chariot and 
Paeon, with his knowledge and skill, restored him 
to life. This so alarmed Pluto, the king of the in- 
fernal regions, that he persuaded Jupiter to anni- 
hilate AEsculapius with one of his terrible thunder- 
bolts. Apollo was so grieved by the death of his 
son that Jove took pity on him, and instead of 
giving the body of AEsculapius into the keeping of 
Pluto, he transformed it into a peony, perpetuating 
the name by which he was best known among the 
gods. It is said to have been the first plant used 

89 



go FLOWER LORE 

for medical purposes. As Homer tells the tale, it 
differs somewhat from other ancient versions. Ac- 
cording to his story, Pluto had been severely 
wounded by Hercules, and Paeon cured him by 
means of a plant which he received from his grand- 
mother, the mother of Apollo. In gratitude, Pluto 
caused the plant to be called pseonia, to honor the 
memory of the great physician of Mount Olympus. 

Another account of the origin of the plant is that 
Pseonia was a beautiful nymph. One day Apollo, 
who was not always discreet, was indulging in a 
mild flirtation with her. Paeonia happening to turn 
her head saw Venus regarding her with great sever- 
ity. She blushed so red that the color never 
left her face, and when Venus in her anger 
changed her into a flower she still retained the rosy 
hue. 

The Greeks held it in great reverence as a sacred 
flower. They believed that it was an emanation from 
the moon, and was under the especial protection of 
that planet; that the flower was illuminated during 
the night, driving away evil spirits and protecting 
those who cultivated it. A small piece of the root, 
worn as an amulet around the neck, was thought 
to be a sure protection from evil enchantments. 
The healing properties of the plant, though not as 
numerous as those of some others, were said to be 
unfailing. The root boiled in water was a certain 
cure for intestinal affections. Boiled in wine it was 
used for diseases of the stomach. Fifteen black 



THE PEONY 91 

seeds eaten before retiring were thought to prevent 
nightmare. As late as the sixteenth century beads 
were made from the roots and worn by children 
as a safeguard against convulsions. One writer in 
the second century assures us that the extract was 
efficacious in cases of insanity. Pliny classes the 
plant as a cure for falling sickness. Other ancient 
writers claim that worn as an amulet the flower will 
prevent enchantment. Block says it was one of the 
" old folke " medicines. 

All early writers agree that the roots must be 
taken up with great care after dark, as the plant 
is carefully guarded by Picus, the woodpecker of 
Mars, who would attack the eyes of any one at- 
tempting to disturb the plant. 

In China, as the queen flower, it is called man- 
tan-fa, and is regarded with reverence and pride, 
being cultivated very carefully. The great tree 
peony, the triumph of the Chinese flower- world, 
grows to a height of eight feet. Some of the blos- 
soms are of enormous size, measuring nine inches 
across. On the bush peony they are frequently so 
large and heavy as to require artificial support. 
The Chinese name means flower of prosperity. It 
is also called the plant of twenty days, because it 
is said that the blossoms retain their beauty and 
freshness for that length of time. The flower is 
used extensively in Chinese art and decoration. In 
connection with the peacock, it is a favorite subject 
for temple and palace walls. 



92 FLOWER LORE 

In this country it has been considered as an old- 
fashioned flower, a survival of the " good old 
colony times," when no New England front yard 
was complete without its "piny bush." As it is 
a hardy perennial, there are still in some New Eng- 
land gardens peony plants almost as old as the home- 
steads themselves, that have been known to have 
had one hundred blossoms at a time. 

In poetry it has been strangely neglected. Shake- 
speare, in the Tempest, makes Iris speak of the 
meadows " with their pionied and lilied banks," and 
one or two of the very early English writers men- 
tion it, spelling the name in various ways. One 
writer, in the sixteenth century, tells of a garden — 

With gilly flowers all set round, 
And pyonys powdered ay betwene. 

Of the later poets, Jean Ingelow writes of the 
leaves : 

At the roots 
Of the peony bushes in rose-red heaps 
Or snowy fallen blooms. 

But it is in stories of colonial life that the peony 
shines. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes called it " an 
aristocratic flower," while Mary E. Wilkins has 
honored it by giving its name to one of her stories. 

The variety known as moutans has flourished and 
been highly regarded in China for fifteen hundred 
years. 



THE PEONY 93 

In England it begins to bloom in April, but in 
this country it is later. 

Thy banks with pionied and lilied brims, 
Which spongy April at the best betrims 
To make cold nymphs chaste crowns. 

Shakespeare,, The Tempest. 



THE SUNFLOWER 

CONSTANCY — ADORATION 

Ah, sunflower, weary of time, 

Who countest the steps of the sun : 

Seeking after that sweet golden clime, 
When the traveler's journey is done. 

William Blake. 

Miles and miles of golden green, 
Where the sunflowers blow, 
In a solid glow. 

Robert Browning. 

The helianthus, or old-fashioned sunflower, is 
associated in the minds of almost every one with 
the ancient myth of Clytie and Apollo, as related 
by Ovid. The name is derived from Helios, the 
sun, and anthos, a flower, and there is no doubt 
that the sunflower in the minds of the Greeks bore 
a resemblance to the orb of the day. Some writers 
have endeavored to demonstrate that the heliotrope 
(one of the flowers sacred to the sun) was unknown 
to the ancients, so in lack of definite information the 
common mind has accepted, if not the sunflower of 
the present day, at least one of the same species as 
the subject of the legend. 

One of the most familiar pieces of old sculpture 
discovered in modern times is the bust now in the 

94 



THE SUNFLOWER 95 

British Museum and frequently reproduced, gen- 
erally known as Clytie. The name was arbitrarily 
given to it because it rises from the leaves of a large 
blossom, which it does not require a vivid imagina- 
tion to accept as a sunflower. 

Clytie was a beautiful water-nymph, the daughter 
of Oceanus. One day she left her home among the 
waves and the sea flowers and joined the assembly 
of the gods on Mount Olympus. There she saw 
Apollo, the sun-god, in all his glory, and, foolish 
little nymph, fell desperately in love with him. 
Apollo was just then very much enamored of Cal- 
liope, the muse of epic poetry, and paid no atten- 
tion to Clytie. So she pined away, sitting all day 
long upon the cold ground, with her hair streaming 
on her shoulders, gazing upon the sun from the time 
he appeared in the morning until he sank behind 
the horizon. For nine days she sat there, tasting 
neither food nor drink, and resisting all entreaties 
of the other water-nymphs to return to her home 
in the sea. At last her limbs sank into the earth 
and became roots, her body changed into a long, 
slender stem, and her beautiful face was trans- 
formed into a flower, which reflected the rays of 
the sun and turned toward him all day in his course 
through the heavens. 

When the old-time Spanish invaders arrived in 
Peru they found that the worship of the sun still 
prevailed among the inhabitants and that the sun- 
flower was much reverenced on account of its re- 



96 FLOWER LORE 

semblance. They described the Temple of the Sun 
as ornamented with representations of the sun made 
of the purest gold and of exquisite workmanship. 
The priestesses were crowned with sunflowers and 
wore them on their bosoms and carried them in their 
hands. Some of the travelers called the plant the 
Indian sonne-fleur; others the golden flower of Peru. 
It was introduced at that time into Spain. Within 
the next twenty years we find references made to the 
sunflower gardens of Madrid. 

As a symbol of constancy and devotion it has its 
place in the Christian religion. Being the flower 
of light and sunshine, it is dedicated to St. John the 
Evangelist. A window in the Church of St. Remi, 
at Rheims, represents the Holy Mother and St. 
John on either side of the Cross. The head of 
each is encircled by an aureole of sunflowers, all 
turned toward the Saviour as to the true sun. 

An anonymous writer, in an ode to the sunflower, 
embodied this : 

Emblem of constancy, whilst he is beaming, 
For whom is thy passion so steadfast, so true; 

May we, who of faith and of love are aye dreaming, 
Be taught to remember this lesson by you. 

It is the especial emblem of St. Bartholomew. 
An old rhyming calendar written about the fifteenth 
century thus notes this fact : 

And yet anon the full sunflower flew, 
And became a starre for Bartholomew. 



THE SUNFLOWER 97 

In 1 615, when Champlain explored the Georgian 
Bay region, he noted the fact that the Indians 
were cultivating it and using the seeds for 
food, procuring from them also an oil for their 
hair. • 

It has assumed a remarkable economic importance 
in Russia. It is said that the land devoted to it 
yields twice as much in money value as that produc- 
ing any other crop. The finer quality of seed is 
used for food and is regarded as a great delicacy 
by all classes. From the second quality an oil is 
made, the best grades of which are extremely nutri- 
tious and as delicate in flavor and color as the best 
salad oils of culinary and domestic purposes in Rus- 
sia and on the continent. The oil cake is used for 
fodder for horses and cattle. The stalks of the 
plant make a fuel resembling pine. They burn 
quickly and produce a bright, fragrant fire. Even 
the ashes have a commercial value for fertilizing 
purposes. In China the plant is being grown ex- 
tensively. A beautiful silk fabric is made from the 
fiber of the stalks. Italy and India, also, are learn- 
ing its commercial value. 

Hyll, in the Art of Gardening, which was printed 
in 1586, says that it was so called 

* * * for that after the rising of the sun unto 
noon this flower openeth larger and larger; but after 
the noon-time unto the setting of the sun the flower 
closeth more and more, so that after the setting 
thereof, it is wholly shut up. 



98 FLOWER LORE 

Thompson says: 

The lofty follower of the sun 
Sad, when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves 
Drooping all night, and, when he warm returns, 
Points her enamour' d bosom to his ray. 

For many years in America and England the deco- 
rative qualities of the sunflower were not appreci- 
ated, and it was relegated to the kitchen garden; 
but with the advent of the pre-Raphaelites the plant 
as a whole was suddenly given what was by many 
regarded as undue prominence. In the early *8os 
of the last century it obtained a place in decorative 
art, which it has never lost. In Gilbert and Sulli- 
van's opera of Patience, it was a " leading lady " 
and was more or less associated with the unfortunate 
Oscar Wilde. 

It grows so prolifically in this country that it has 
been suggested as the national flower. It is a na- 
tive of every state in the Union. The wild is much 
smaller than the cultivated variety. In some of the 
western states, in August and September, the rail- 
roads are lined on either side with millions of the 
yellow blossoms, all turning their faces to follow 
the course of the sun. Kansas and Nebraska have 
chosen it as the state flower. Lately its economic 
value has been recognized and in 1901 Dr. Harvey 
W. Wiley, under the direction of the department 
of agriculture, issued a bulletin devoted to its cul- 
tivation, composition, and uses. In this bulletin, 



THE SUNFLOWER 99 

among the other properties of the plant, it is noted 
that the seeds are in demand for keeping horses and 
cattle in excellent physical condition. The atten- 
tion is also called to it as a preventive of malaria. 

Although the sunflower has been regarded as com- 
mon, the poets have considered it worthy of their 
best efforts. Calderon, the Spanish poet, to whom 
the gardens of Madrid were probably a familiar 
sight, thus addresses it : 

Sight enchanted sunflower, thou 
Who gazest ever true and tender 
On the sun's revolving splendor. 

Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of the great Dar- 
win, and himself a naturalist and a poet, in his Loves 
of the Plants, writes thus : 

With zealous steps, he climbs the upland lawn 
And bows in homage to the rising dawn. 
Imbibes with eagle eye, the golden ray, 
And watches as it moves, the orb of day. 

But of all the tributes, the one appealing most to 
the universal heart and that will never be forgotten 
as long as there are voices to sing and hearts to 
feel, is : 

The heart which has truly loved never forgets, 
But as truly loves on to the close, 

As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets, 
The same look which she turned when he rose. 

Thomas Moore. 



THE CLOVER 

I PROMISE 

Sweet by the roadsides, sweet by the rills, 
Sweet in the meadows, sweet on the hills, 
Sweet in its white, sweet in its red — 
Oh, half of its sweetness cannot be said ; 
Sweet in its every living breath, 
Sweetest, perhaps, at last in death. 

Saxe Holm, Song of the Clover. 

There is music at our feet, 
On the clover, honey sweet. 

Walter Thornbury. 

While there is no authenticated myth as to the 
origin of the clover, it is certain that the ancients 
held it in great favor. Hope is represented as a 
child standing on tiptoe and holding out clover 
blossoms. Summer bestows clover as a promise of 
future good. The Greeks used it extensively for 
garlands and in decorations for their festivals. It 
was introduced into Greece, says Pliny, from Media 
during the reign of Darius, the Persian. The 
generic name of the plant is tri folium, meaning one 
leaf with three parts. The latest authorities give 
three hundred varieties. The Druids, an ancient or- 

IOO 



THE CLOVER 101 

der of Celtic priests, whose name is derived from a 
word meaning tree, regarded it as one of their sacred 
plants and held it in a veneration second only to 
the mistletoe. The name comes from clava, a Celtic 
word for club. Some say that the little three-part 
leaf is supposed to have been given its name from 
its resemblance to the three-headed club of the great 
Hercules. 

But interest in the clover chiefly centers in the 
fact that it is the national floral emblem of the 
Emerald Isle. In the early days of the mission of 
the great St. Patrick, he was preaching one day in 
the neighborhood of Meath, and was endeavoring 
to explain the doctrine of the Trinity to an audi- 
ence who found it difficult to comprehend. " How," 
asked one of the chiefs, " can there be three in 
one ? " The Saint stopped and picked from the sod 
at his feet a clover leaf. Holding it before them 
he said : " Behold, in this trifoliate leaf, how three 
persons in the Godhead can exist, and yet be one." 
The illustration was so familiar and yet so forcible 
that the chief and his whole clan accepted the Chris- 
tian faith. From this tradition in all probability 
came the adoption in later years of the shamrock 
as the national emblem. There has been some con- 
flict as to whether the wood-sorrel, or the white 
clover, was the original shamrock of Ireland. 
Decision has been generally in favor of the 
clover. 

As the trefoil is the emblem of the Trinity, it 



102 FLOWER LORE 

is used in decoration for Trinity Sunday. The 
early Christians imagined that the stem represented 
the path of life, the right-hand leaf purgatory, the 
left-hand hades, and the center heaven. Still an- 
other interpretation was that the threefold leaf was 
an emblem of faith, hope, and love, the three great 
elements in Christian life. Consequently it has been 
introduced as a feature of ecclesiastical architecture. 
The extremities of crosses and church windows, as 
well as interior and exterior decorations, are often 
made in its form. 

The clover is one of the plants that undergo a 
radical change at night. As evening comes on, the 
side leaves fold together, while the center leaf bends 
over them in a prayerful attitude. This transfor- 
mation was no doubt an additional reason for the 
reverence with which the plant was cherished. Per- 
haps it will account for the idea which prevailed 
that it was antagonistic to evil spirits and counter- 
acted their influence. The various kinds always 
contract at the approach of a storm, and hence it 
is known as the husbandman's barometer. The 
leaves rise up to protect the blossom. In some 
places it was believed that if a farmer brought home 
with him a handful of clover from each corner of 
his neighbor's field his cattle would thrive during 
that year. A dream of a clover field meant health 
and prosperity. Occasionally a clover leaf is found 
that has four or more parts, and this is popularly 
accepted as a token of great good fortune. 



THE CLOVER 103 

In some English folk-lore it is said that the maids 
also search for the two-leaved clover, and sing: 

A clover, a clover of two, 

Put in your right shoe, 

The first young man you meet, 

In field, street, or lane, 

You'll have him or one of his name. 

In Scotland it was once thought that one who 
had a four-leaved clover on his person would im- 
mediately realize it if any one attempted to practice 
witchcraft upon him. Its virtue as a protection is 
referred to in these lines: 

With a four-leaved clover, double-topped ash, and 

green-topped seave, 
You may go before the queen's daughter without 

asking leave. 

This was accomplished by the combination. 
Seaves were the rushes from which the old rush 
lights were made. A reference to a different com- 
bination is also found in verse : 

An even-leaved ash, 

And a four-leaved clover, 

You'll see your true love, 
'Fore the day is over. 

A four-leaved clover has long been supposed to 
invest the finder with great magical powers. Sam- 



104 FLOWER LORE 

uel Lover, in his Four-leaved Shamrock, gives voice 
to the superstition : 

I'll seek a four-leaved shamrock, in all the fairy 

dells, 
And if I find the charmed leaves, oh, how I'll weave 

my spells. 
But I would play the enchanter's part in casting bliss 

around. 
Oh! not a tear or aching heart should in the world 

be found. 

The fairy folk, in olden times when there were 
fairies, appropriated the clover as one of their espe- 
cial plants. Whenever a fairy foot touched the 
ground there came up a four-leaved clover, pos- 
sessed of magical power. Whoever found one was 
immediately taken under the protection of the little 
people. If a maiden, she saw her true love before 
the day closed. If a youth, his success in his woo- 
ing was assured. If a lover went on a journey and 
his sweetheart put a four-leaved clover in his shoe, 
he had a safe return. The fortunate possessors of 
this talisman were the only mortals who could hold 
converse with the fairies when they wished. As it 
brought all sorts of good luck at play, it is said to 
have caused the club, which in France is called 
" Trefle," to have been placed on the playing cards. 

The clover grows in almost every part of the 
world and its uses are manifold. It enriches the 
ground where it grows. It provides fine pasturage 
and superior fodder. In times of famine in Ire- 



THE CLOVER 105 

land, it has been reported that when reduced to the 
last extremity, it was used as food by the starving 
people. It delights the senses with its beauty and 
sweet odor. The bee and the clover are fast friends, 
indeed one can 'scarcely exist without the other. 
Some years ago an effort was made to introduce 
the red clover into Australia. It grew well, but 
failed to produce any seed. After one or two un- 
successful efforts, a number of bumblebees were im- 
ported from America and let loose when the clover 
had begun to blossom. From that time the red 
clover has been a success in Australia. Beekeepers 
claim that the finest quality of honey is obtained 
from the white clover. Perhaps this luxuriance of 
sweets, both of odor and taste, gave rise to the 
expression " living in clover." The earliest record 
of this saying appeared in 17 10; and during that 
century it was frequently used to denote the height 
of luxurious living. 

In Flint, Michigan, a clover blossom a year is the 
rent charged the school board for a ninety-nine year 
lease of a school site. The use of the land for other 
than school purposes will terminate the lease. It 
has been decided to make a ceremonial feature of 
the payment of the rent each year. A member of the 
board is to be elected every spring to pluck a clover 
blossom from the lots and bear it to the owner or one 
of his heirs. The idea, however, is not new. 

The red clover has been chosen by the pupils 
of the public schools as the Vermont state flower. 



106 FLOWER LORE 

The literature of New England is rilled with trib- 
utes to its virtues. Thoreau, in his Summer, likens 
the " blushing fields of clover " to the " western 
sky at evening." Emerson, in both his prose and 
poetry, lauds it. The old country poets have not 
overlooked it. Dryden, Shakespeare, Burns, and 
Tennyson sing its praises, but it remains for the 
bards of Ireland to adequately portray the beauty 
of their national flower. 

And so I love clover — it seems like a part 
Of the sacredest sorrows and joys of my hart; 
And wharever it blossoms ; oh, thare let me bow 
And thank the good God as I'm thankin' Him now; 
And I pray to Him still fer the stren'th when I die, 
To go out in the clover and tell it good-by, 
And lovin'ly nestle my face in its bloom 
While my soul slips away on a breth of purfume. 
James Whitcomb Riley, The Clover. 



THE BACHELOR BUTTONS 

CELIBACY — DELICACY 

Blue, thou art intensely blue, 

Flower, whence came thy dazzling hue? 

Montgomery. 

Chiron, the leader of the centaurs, lived in a 
cave near the summit of Mount Pelion in Thessaly. 
He was renowned among the gods for his wisdom, 
for his skill in music and medicine, and for the use 
of weapons. He instructed the Grecian youths in 
these arts, and nearly all of his pupils distinguished 
themselves in Grecian story. Hercules was one 
of them. When he returned from the second of 
his great labors, the slaying of the hydra with nine 
heads, Chiron, his instructor, was the first to wel- 
come him. In handling his weapons, an arrow, 
poisoned by the blood of the monster, fell upon the 
centaur's foot, piercing it with an ugly wound. A 
plant, with a blue flower, immediately sprang up at 
their feet, and Hercules, whom Chiron had in- 
structed in the healing art, bound the root upon the 
wound. In a short time it was healed and ever 
since the plant has been known as centauria. 

The Abbe Barthelemy, in his history of the 
travels, writes that when Anacharsis visited Thes- 

107 



108 FLOWER LORE 

saly he went to the cave of Chiron on Mount Pelion, 
where the centaur showed him a plant with a ragged 
blue flower and explained to him its wonderful heal- 
ing qualities. An eye-wash was prepared from the 
leaves, which was almost magical in its results. The 
secret of the preparation was known only to one 
person, to whom Chiron himself had entrusted it 
and who was to transmit it. 

Under the name of cornflower, it has its place 
in history. It is the national flower of Germany, 
and is associated with the beautiful and unfortunate 
Louise of Prussia, the mother of William, first Em- 
peror of Germany. In October, 1806, was fought 
the double battle of Jena and Auerstadt. Queen 
Louise was forced to make her escape from Berlin 
with her two sons, the elder of whom was about 
nine years old. On the way to Koenigsberg the 
carriage broke down and they were obliged to alight 
and wait by the roadside until the damage was 
repaired. Seeing her distress, the little boys tried 
to console her, and one of them, the crown prince, 
said : " You are crying, mother? " " Yes," she re- 
plied, " I am weeping for Prussia." Then control- 
ling herself, she continued : " We must not content 
ourselves with weeping; we must act." Putting 
an arm about each little lad, she endeavored to di- 
vert them by calling their attention to the great num- 
ber of beautiful blue cornflowers that were growing 
near by. " Go," she said, " gather some of those 
flowers and I will make wreaths for you, and crown 



THE BACHELOR BUTTONS 109 

you king." Forgetting their troubles, the little 
fellows ran off and soon their mother's lap was 
filled with blossoms. When the wreath was made 
she placed it on the head of her eldest son. The 
other boy, the little William, begged her to make 
him one. Complying, she said, as she placed it on 
his little head : " Crowns mean very little some- 
times." The boy clinched his fist, and standing 
erect, said : " When I am a man I will punish this 
Napoleon for making you feel so badly." They 
reached Koenigsberg safely, and before the close 
of the century that little boy was crowned Emperor 
of united Germany, and the successor to the great 
Napoleon became his prisoner. He always loved 
the cornflower, because it reminded him of his 
mother. He chose it for the floral emblem of the 
Germans, who call it the Kaiserblume. 

Pliny, writing of its medical properties, says, in 
his natural history, that twenty different remedies 
were prepared from the centauria. He cites the 
healing of Chiron's foot as evidence of its efficacy 
and states that pieces of meat were welded together 
simply by being boiled with the root. 

Another mythological account of the flower is the 
story of the youth named Cyanus, who was devoted 
to Flora, the goddess of flowers. Of all her gifts 
he loved the cornflower the best. He was so en- 
amored of it that he would scarcely leave the fields 
when it was in bloom. Always his garments were 
of the same bright blue color as his favorite flower. 



no FLOWER LORE 

Most of his time he spent in weaving garlands of 
the blossoms. One morning he was found dead in 
a corn field. In his hands and all about him were 
the blue flowers he had gathered. Flora grieved 
for the beautiful youth, and as a reward for his 
devotion she transformed him into the flower he 
had loved so well. There is a tradition that Cyanus 
is the original of Little Boy Blue of the old English 
nursery rhyme. 

In Russian folk-lore there is a story of a hand- 
some youth named Basil, who was betrothed to a 
maiden of his own country. An enchantress named 
Russalka, who fell in love with him, failing to win 
him from his allegiance, enticed him into a field and 
changed him into the blue flower which in Russia 
is called basilek. 

Why the name bachelor button was given no one 
has ever been able definitely to decide. One old 
botanist of the sixteenth century writes that it re- 
ceived its name because of its resemblance to the 
" J a £g e d cloathe buttons anciently worne in this 
Kingdome." However that may be, there is no 
botanical authority for the name. In England 
there are twenty-one plants that have at some time 
or other been known as bachelor buttons. The 
plant is also known in England as bluet, blue bottle, 
blue bonnet, and logger-head. Queer, old names 
are break-your-spectacles and hawdods. Some- 
times it was called hurt-cycle because the stems are 
very tough and turned the edges of the reapers' 



THE BACHELOR BUTTONS in 

sickles in the days when reaping was done by hand. 
The name logger-head was given on account of its 
resemblance to an old weapon of ancient times that 
consisted of a disk of iron with a long handle pro- 
jecting from the' center. A conflict with these 
weapons gave rise to the expression " coming to 
logger-heads." 

There was a tradition among the country folk 
that the flower exerted a magical influence over the 
fortunes of lovers, and it was consequently the 
custom among the young men to carry it in their 
pockets. The blossom was to be picked with the 
morning dew still on it, and if, after twenty- four 
hours the color was still bright and fresh, the wearer 
could be assured that he would be successful in his 
wooing. The expression, " true blue," had its 
origin in this superstition. It was also used as a 
love philter. 

Sometimes maidens tested the faithfulness of 
their lovers by saying rhymes as they pulled the 
petals from the flowers, just as they do with the 
daisies. Miss Landon, in the Decision of the 
Flower, refers to this fortune-telling practice : 

Now, gentle flower, I pray thee tell 

If my lover loves me and loves me well ; 

So may the fall of the morning dew 

Keep the sun from fading thy tender blue, 

Now I number the leaves for my lot, 

He loves not. He loves me. He loves me not. 

He loves me. Yes ! thou last leaf, yes ! 

I'll pluck thee not for the last sweet guess. 



ii2 FLOWER LORE 

Mr. Coles, in Finger Ring-Lore, says that in 
divination the maids were careful to observe which 
way the flower leaned, and in connection quotes the 
following lines : 

If on a shrub she casts her eye, 
That spoke her true love's secret sigh, 
Or else, alas, too plainly told, 
Her true love's faithless heart was cold. 

The phrase, " to wear bachelor buttons," signifies 
being unmarried. 

The flower has not attracted as much attention 
in literature as it deserves. Kryloff, a Russian poet, 
whose fables are household words in Russia, has 
made the basilek the subject of one of the most 
beautiful of his poetic tales. Although not defi- 
nitely designated by Shakespeare, it is presumed to 
be the plant referred to in the Merry Wives of 
Windsor, when Fenton is playfully accused by his 
hostess of " carrying his buttons " to determine the 
result of his love affairs. Chaucer, in the Romaunt 
of the Rose, writes of " the fresh button so bright 
of hue." Some writers contend that the blue corn- 
flower was the blossom that Goethe chose as the 
floral oracle from which Marguerite was to learn 
the truth regarding Faust. 

There is a flower, a deep blue flower. 
Sown by the wind, nursed by the shower, 
Over which love breathed a powerful spell, 
The truth of whispering hope to tell. 

Miss Landon. 



THE ROSE 

LOVE \ '■' '' 

If Zeus had willed it so, 
That o'er the flowers one flower should reign a queen, 

I know, ah, well I know, 
The rose, the rose, that royal flower had been. 

Sappho. 

From the time of Midas, the King of Phrygia, 
whose rose gardens were the wonder of the ancient 
world, until the present time, the rose has reigned 
the queen of flowers. It was dedicated to Venus 
and was the emblem of joy and beauty. Comus, 
the god of feasting, was represented crowned with 
a garland of roses. 

Almost every oriental nation had a legend of its 
origin. The Grecian poet, Anacreon, says that 
Venus, having been born from the sea, and Athena 
from the brain of Zeus, Gaea, the earth, was called 
upon for her contribution to Mount Olympus and 
modestly offered a green branch bearing a tiny bud. 
When some of the deities smiled at the insignificant 
offering, Jupiter commanded that the bud be 
sprinkled with nectar. Thereupon it slowly opened 
before the feasting gods and goddesses and became 
a full-blown white rose in all its regal splendor. 

«3 



ii 4 FLOWER LORE 

Its delicious perfume is accounted for by tne story 
that Cupid, at the same feast, overturned a bowl 
of nectar, which, falling on the open flower, im- 
parted to it the fragrance it still retains. 
Thus old Anacreon rhymed the tale : 

O, whence could such a plant have sprung, 
Attend, for thus the tale is sung ; 
Then, then in strange eventful hour 
The earth produced an infant flower; 
The gods beheld this brilliant birth, 
And hailed the rose, the boon of earth ; 
And long the muses, heavenly maids, 
Have rear'd it in their tuneful shades. 

Another story is that Venus, hurrying to Adonis 
with some of the same nectar, after he had been 
hurt by the wild boar, in alighting from her chariot 
stepped on a thorn. Where her blood stained the 
bush and the nectar was spilled there came forth 
the beautiful red rose. 

A favorite legend of the Greeks was that of 
Rodanthe, the beautiful and wise Queen of Corinth, 
who had so many suitors that she took refuge in 
the temple of Diana to escape from their importu- 
nities. When three of the most persistent of her 
admirers attempted to follow her across the sacred 
threshold, she looked so beautiful in her excitement 
and indignation that the populace cried out, " Let us 
make Rodanthe a goddess.' • As she concealed her- 
self in the inner shrine of Diana, Phoebus, the sun, 
Diana's brother, became so angered at the insult 



THE ROSE 115 

to his sister that he turned his burning gaze full 
upon the intruder. Rodanthe endeavored to leave 
the pedestal to escape his scorching rays, but her 
feet were held fast and her body and limbs turned 
into branches covered with leaves. In place of the 
Queen of Corinth there stood a rose tree, full of 
beautiful yellow flowers. 

" Tho' changed into a flower, her pomp remains, 
And lovely still, and still a queen she reigns." 

The throng who were about the temple were 
turned into thorns to guard her beauty, and the too 
ardent lovers were transformed into a worm, a 
drone, and a butterfly. 

There is a Roumanian tradition of a fair princess, 
who went to the sea to bathe. The sun was so 
dazzled by her beauty that he stood still for three 
days. Of course, that interrupted the progress of 
night, and so upset things generally that Jupiter 
changed the princess into a rose tree. Whether this 
was before, after, or in the time of Joshua does not 
appear. 

In the garden was a lily and each aspired to be 
queen there. The rose supported her title by the 
poets. The height and dignity of the lily gave her 
an imperial appearance. Their respective rights 
were so warmly debated that Flora, the goddess, 
finally interfered as arbitrator. Cowper gives her 
decision in these words : 



n6 FLOWER LORE 

" Yours," she said, " the noblest hue, 
And yours the statelier mien; 

And till a third surpasses you, 
Let each be deem'd a queen." 

Sir John Maundeville, in his wonderful travels, 
tells of a maiden of Bethlehem who was accused 
of a crime and condemned to be burned. As the 
flames were kindled she prayed to the Lord that, as 
she was not guilty, He would cause her innocence 
to be known to all men. When the fires reached 
her they were immediately quenched, and the fagots 
that were burning became red rose trees, and those 
that were not kindled changed to white rose trees, 
both full of blossoms. These were the first tree 
roses ever seen on earth. 

The Romans were lavish in their use of roses. 
Whole shiploads were brought to Rome and there 
were shops in which nothing else was sold. At 
public games wreaths of them were given as prizes, 
and at private entertainments they were used in pro- 
fusion for decorations. Nero, at some of his ban- 
quets, caused showers of rose leaves to be rained 
on his guests and had fountains of rose water play- 
ing in the hall. Cleopatra is said to have spent a 
fabulous sum to provide them for a feast which 
she gave for Marc Antony. 

The proverbial bed of roses is not altogether a 
poetic fiction. The Sybarites used to sleep on mat- 
tresses stuffed with roses, while Verres, a Roman 
politician, was accustomed to travel on a litter, the 



THE ROSE 117 

mattress of which was made of rose leaves. When 
he complained once of not sleeping well, Cicero 
sneer ingly said that probably one of the rose leaves 
in his bed had become crumpled. 

Besides representing joy and beauty, the rose 
was also the emblem of silence. This idea is said 
to have originated when Cupid once gave a rose 
to Hippocrates, the god of silence, to bribe him not 
to reveal the indiscretions of Venus. The Romans, 
frequently, had a rose sculptured or painted on the 
ceilings of the banqueting hall to remind the guests 
that what was said at a festal gathering, under con- 
vivial conditions, was not to be repeated, but kept 
sub rosa, meaning under the rose. There is also 
an historical account of the origin of this expres- 
sion. 

From old inscriptions at Ravenna and Milan it 
is known that the Romans often directed, by will, 
that roses be strewn and planted upon their graves. 
This custom is alluded to by Anacreon and Proper- 
tius. Others regard them as emblems of an anxious 
clouded life, abounding in thorns and crosses. But 
though their beauties fade, the flowers come back 
with the return of spring. 

In Wales white rose trees are planted upon the 
graves of maidens and red bushes on those of per- 
sons who were distinguished for benevolence. 

The Scottish ballad of Fair Margaret and Sweet 
William tells of their lives, troubles, death, and 
burial, side by side : 



n8 FLOWER LORE 

Out of her breast there sprang a rose, 
And out of his a briar. 

They grew till they grew unto the church's top, 
And there they tied in a true love's knot, a 

A tablet was erected in a church in England by 
Edward Rose, who died and was buried there. He 
left twenty pounds to the parish by his will upon 
condition that the rose trees in the cemetery should 
be kept up, and they are still cared for. 

It is thought that the following Christmas carol, 
which was popular in the fifteenth century, told the 
story of the conversion of France to Christianity : 

The rose is the fairest flower of all, 
That evermore was, or evermore shall, 

The rose of ryse, 
Of all the flowers the rose bears prize. 
The rose it is the fairest flower, 
The rose is sweetest of odor, 
The rose in care is comforter, 
The rose in sickness it is salver, 

The rose so bright. 
In medicine it is most of might 
Witness these clerks that be wise. 
The rose is the flower most holden in prize. 
Therefore, me thinks, the fleur-de-lys 
Should worship the rose of ryse 

And be his thrall. 
And so should other flowers all. 
Many a knight with spear and lance, 
Followed that rose to his pleasance. 
When the rose betided a chance 
There followed all the flowers of France, 
In pleasance of the rose of true. 






THE ROSE 119 

The words " of ryse " as there used mean " on 
the branch," and the word " salver " means " Our 
Saviour." 

There is an old tale which says that roses were 
sent by St. Dorothea from Paradise to St. The- 
ophilus to keep a promise, made in life, that she 
would send back some word after death. 

In Persia the song of the nightingale is believed 
to be inspired by the odor of the rose. 

His followers say that the sweat of Mohammed 
when on his way to heaven produced white roses, 
while that which dropped from Al Borak colored 
the yellow ones. 

The custom of planting flowers in churchyards 
seems to have come from the belief that Paradise 
abounds with fragrant blossoms. The legend of 
Sir Owain refers to this. Anacreon, singing of the 
rose, says : 

When pain afflicts and sickness grieves, 
Its juice the drooping heart relieves; 
And after death its odors shed 
A pleasing fragrance o'er the dead. 
And when its withering charms decay 
And sinking, fading die away, 
Triumphant, o'er the rage of time, 
It keeps the fragrance of its prime. 

Virgil phrases the grief of Anchises thus: 

Full canisters of fragrant lilies bring, 
Mixed with the purple roses of the spring, 
Let me with funeral flowers his body strew. 



120 FLOWER LORE 

Manning says that the practice of planting rose 
bushes on graves in Ockley probably came from 
the Romans, as the old Roman road passes through 
the village, and it was anciently headquarters; and 
Evelyn, too, refers to the custom. It is said that 
roses fade on St. Magdalene's day. 

The rose played a very important part in medi- 
cine in the past. The oil, conserves, preparations 
from the plant leaves and from petals were used 
for nerve troubles, headaches, and indigestion. 
Thirty-two remedies are said to have been thus de- 
rived. The lotion was regarded as a certain cure 
for eruptions of the skin. The ointment was 
equally efficacious. Milto, a very beautiful maiden, 
used to take to the temple of Venus, every morn- 
ing, a garland of fresh roses. It was all she had, 
as she was poor. When a tumor grew upon her 
face, entirely destroying her beauty, Venus ap- 
peared to her one night and told her to anoint her 
face with some of the leaves of the roses she had 
laid upon the altar. She did so, the tumor disap- 
peared, and she was more beautiful than ever. She 
so attracted the attention of Cyrus, the younger, 
that she became his wife. 

In those luxurious times many of the nobles had 
baths filled with rose water. The young Romans 
were in the habit of sending baskets of roses to the 
ladies that they admired. Mia-rosa was a term 
of endearment used by the Roman lover to his 
betrothed. 



THE ROSE 121 

The Persians regarded it as sacred, and asso- 
ciated it with the nightingale. It was believed by 
them that it burst into bloom at the song of the 
night-warbler. One day all the birds came before 
King Solomon, who understood their language, to 
complain of the nightingale, whom they charged 
with disturbing their slumbers by singing his mourn- 
ful song all night long. The nightingale, being sent 
for, explained to the King that the rose waited for 
his call to come forth from the bud, and that his 
love for her was so great that he could not resist 
the temptation of seeing the beautiful flower un- 
fold. The wise King acquitted him, and ever since 
the song of the nightingale is permitted to be heard 
in the stillness of the summer night. A carnival 
called the feast of roses was held in Persia during 
the entire time that the flower was in bloom. 

The rose holds an important part in ecclesiastical 
history. It is especially dedicated to the Blessed 
Virgin, the Queen of Heaven, and is often intro- 
duced in some form in old paintings of the Ma- 
donna. A sacred legend states that the tomb of 
the Virgin was found filled with lilies and roses, 
after her assumption. The Golden Rose is a sacred 
ornament, which the Pope is accustomed to bless 
every year, on Lsetare Sunday, being the fourth 
Sunday in Lent. It is always of exquisite work- 
manship, and is sometimes set with jewels. It sym- 
bolizes the beauty and majesty of Christ. The day 
pf the ceremony is called Rose Sunday, and rose- 



122 FLOWER LORE 

colored vestments and draperies are substituted for 
the purple ones in use during Lent. The blessing 
of the Golden Rose takes place in the hall of vest- 
ments and the mass in the papal chapel. 

After the ceremony it is sometimes conferred 
upon some noted church, upon a state or municipal 
government, or upon some distinguished individ- 
ual, who has rendered great service to the church. 
The last one was bestowed by Leo XIII upon Marie 
Henriette, Queen of Belgium, in 1893. The same 
one is used each year until it has been disposed of. 
The flower is emblematic of the frailty of human 
life, and the indestructible metal signifies the im- 
mortality of the soul. 

There was once a Princess of Hungary, who 
was both beautiful and good. From her childhood 
she had devoted her life to deeds of charity. When 
she was fifteen she was married to Prince Ludwig 
of Thuringia, who sympathized with her in her 
benevolent plans, but his mother and sister opposed 
them, and in the Prince's absence were very unkind 
to the Princess Elizabeth. There was a famine in 
Thuringia and her wisdom saved the lives of many 
of the subjects. She directed that the food that 
was in store should be divided into portions, so that 
the supply should last until the harvest, and she her- 
self shared in it the same as the people. Much of 
her time was spent in visiting the sick. One day 
when she was leaving the castle with a supply of 
food she met her husband returning from the hunt 



THE ROSE 123 

He demanded to know what she had under her 
cloak, and when she hesitated, fearing his displeas- 
ure because she deprived herself of the necessities 
of life, he drew the cloak aside, and found that her 
basket was full of beautiful white roses. Doubt- 
less her surprise was as great as his. 

St. Elizabeth of Hungary is represented in one 
of the eleven pictures painted by Murillo for the 
charity hospital in Seville. 

The poet, Dante, recognizes the rose as the symbol 
of the Blessed Virgin : 

The rose wherein the Word divine was made in- 
carnate. 

He employs it also to describe the whole army of 
saints : 

Advancing like a rose unfolding its petals. 

The holy multitude in heaven he likens : 
In fashion to snow-white roses. 

As an emblem of the frailty of life, it has also 
been embodied in verse : 

Each morn a thousand roses brings, you say; 
Yes, but where leaves the rose of yesterday ? 

Thus sings the 'Rubdiydt of Omar Khayyam. 
And William Cullen Bryant wrote : 

The rose that lives its little hour, 

Is prized beyond the sculptured flower. * 



i2 4 FLOWER LORE 

It is the national emblem of England, and figures 
conspicuously in the history of that country. In 
the days of the Roman occupation, England was 
known as Albion, probably because of its wide ex- 
panse of white chalk cliffs. The Latin word alba 
means white. The romancing Pliny suggests that 
it was so called because of the great number of 
white roses which grew there. However this may 
be, the rose was not recognized as the royal flower 
until some centuries later. \ 

King Edward I, whose reign ended in 1307, as- 
sumed it as his personal badge, but it made its first 
appearance upon the great seal of the kingdom dur- 
ing the reign of Edward IV. This monarch 
also caused to be issued a gold coin bearing a 
rose upon both faces, which was known as the 
rose-noble. In the fifteenth century the Wars of the 
Roses forever associated the flower with English 
history. 

Shakespeare, no doubt, followed some old tradi- 
tion in the account he gave in his Henry VI. He 
narrates a quarrel in the old temple garden between 
the Duke of York and the Earl of Somerset. Find- 
ing that their followers are becoming excited, the 
Duke suggests that they " shall in dumb significance 
proclaim their thoughts," adding : 

" Let him who is a true-born gentleman, 
And stands upon the honor of his birth, 
If he supposes I have pleaded truth, 
From off this briar pluck a white rose with me." 



THE ROSE 125 

To which the Earl replies : 

" Let him who is no coward nor no flatterer, 
But dares maintain the party of the truth, 
Pluck a red rose flower from this briar with me." 

The respective knights gathered the differ ent-hued 
roses and Warwick foretells the terrible strife that 
" shall send between the white rose and the red, 
thousands of souls to death, and deadly night." 

The wars lasted thirty years, and then a Princess 
of York married a Prince of Lancaster, and the 
roses were united. 

An English writer claims that the expression sub 
rosa had its origin at this time. Two taverns, one 
at the side and one opposite the houses of parlia- 
ment, displayed as signs the red and white roses, 
respectively, and each was frequented by the ad- 
herents of their emblem. As private conferences 
were held and measures requiring secrecy were dis- 
cussed, in referring to their transactions, they were 
said to have taken place " under the rose." 

There is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth with a 
rose in her ear, which illustrates this expression. 
When so worn it means, " Hear all and say 
nothing." 

In France it has also played a part in politics and 
history. A singular custom, the origin of which 
is not known, existed and was observed until the 
seventeenth century. All the French nobles, even 
those of royal blood, were required on a certain day 



126 FLOWER LORE 

to present roses to the parliament at Paris. The 
presentation was made by one of the peers and it 
was regarded as a great honor to be selected for this 
office. On the day of the presentation a splendid 
breakfast was served and every member of parlia- 
ment was presented with a garland and a huge 
bouquet of roses. 

Another French festival, which has only recently 
been discontinued, was the Fete d'la Rosiere, which 
took place at Salency, near Paris. It was insti- 
tuted in 480 by the Bishop of Noyon, and consisted 
of publicly crowning with roses the most amiable, 
modest, and virtuous maiden in the village, who 
was selected by the vote of the villagers. To pro- 
vide for the expenses of the feast the bishop set 
apart a portion of his own domain, which was 
known as the manor of the rose. The first young 
girl selected as the Rose of Salency was the bishop's 
sister. 

In the day of chivalry those taking part in tourna- 
ments often wore a rose as an evidence of their 
devotion to love and beauty. Among the knights 
there was an " Order of the Rose," the insignia of 
which was a rose embroidered on the sleeve as a 
sign that gentleness accompanied courage, and that 
beauty was the reward of valor. 

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, there are 
on record several instances where roses have been 
used in payment of rent. In 1758, the Bishop of 
Ely granted to Sir Christopher Hatton certain 



THE ROSE 127 

valuable property for a term of twenty-one years, in 
consideration of payment of " one red rose " an- 
nually on Midsummer Day, but reserving to him- 
self the privilege of gathering twenty bushels of 
roses yearly. 

In the quaint, little town of Manheim, in Penn- 
sylvania, on the second Sunday in June each year, 
a unique celebration occurs, in the payment to the 
oldest lineal descendant of Baron Stiegel one red 
rose, the annual rent for land given by him a cen- 
tury and a half ago to the Zion Lutheran Church. 
This curious requirement is set forth in a deed in 
due and legal form, providing that " unto the said 
Henry William Stiegel, his heirs, and assigns, at 
the said town of Manheim, in the month of June, 
yearly, one red rose shall be paid, if the same shall 
be lawfully demanded." 

Twice this rent was paid to the Baron himself. 
Then, for one hundred and twenty years, the strange 
obligation was lost sight of, and became a tradition, 
remembered only by a .few of the oldest inhabitants. 
About 1890, an antiquarian delving into the his- 
tory of the town discovered the old deed. A large, 
handsome church now occupies the ground donated 
by the Baron. There had been no violation of the 
terms of the deed, as during that time the rose had 
not been demanded. 

In 1892 the church authorities determined to re- 
vive the payment and make it an interesting cere- 
mony. They had no knowledge of the descendants 



128 FLOWER LORE 

of Baron Stiegel, but preparations for the festival 
were made and duly chronicled in the daily papers, 
with the result that one of the heirs who lived in 
Virginia came forward. Since then others have 
been heard from and each year there is a goodly 
representation of the Baron's family at Manheim's 
" Feast of Roses." 

The old-fashioned gardens of our great grand- 
mothers were full of rose bushes, which gave pleas- 
ure to every sense, even that of taste, for the cook- 
books of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
contained many recipes in which the rose in some 
form or other played a part. Here is one copied 
from an old manuscript cook-book, compiled by a 
great-great-grandmother, when she was eighteen, 
probably in anticipation of her marriage. 
* " To make Conserve of Roses.— Take one quart 
of rose water, one quart of rain water, filtered; 
boil in the water a pound of red rose leaves. When 
the leaves are boiled to pulp, add three pounds of 
loaf sugar. Add it one pound at a time and let it 
boil five minutes between each pound, then put it in 
pots." 

The same generation kept a rose jar on the mantel 
in the best room, filled with rose leaves, and when 
the lid was removed on state occasions the quaint 
pungent odor filled the room. 

More than a century ago there was in Paris 
an association of literary men who called them- 
selves " The Society of the Rose," and their place 



THE ROSE 129 

of meeting was known as the " Thicket of Roses." 
In order to become a member it was necessary not 
only to be a congenial spirit, but also to have written 
a song of the rose that had been passed upon and 
accepted by the other members. 

Thus, from the day of Isaiah, its praises have 
been sung by the great writers of every age. 
Chaucer, in The Romaunt of the Rose, tells many 
of the mediaeval legends. Spenser, Southey, and 
Byron all sing of it. But Moore is pre-eminent in 
his devotion to it, his poems abounding with beauti- 
ful allusions. As long as roses bloom his memory 
will keep green. 

Long, long be my heart with such memories rilled, 
Like the vase in which roses have once been dis- 
tilled. 
You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will, 
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still. 
Thomas Moore, The Farewell. 



THE LILY 

PURITY — MAJESTY 

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; 
they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet, I say 
unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not 
arrayed like one of these. — Matthew vi, 28-29. 

Yet the great ocean hath no tone or power, 
Mightier to reach the soul in thought's hushed hour, 
Than yours, ye lilies, chosen thus and graced. 

Mrs. Hemans. 

From the earliest period of Christianity Easter 
has been regarded by the church as the queen of 
festivals. The fixing of the date of its observance 
is a complicated and difficult process. Originally 
it fell upon the same day as the Jewish Passover, 
but very early in ecclesiastical history serious con- 
troversies arose as to the exact day upon which the 
festival should be celebrated. These differences 
were settled by the Council of Nicea, in A.p. 325, 
which decreed that the first Sunday after the full 
moon, following the vernal equinox, March 21st, 
should be observed as Easter day. The name 
Easter is supposed to be derived from Eastra or 
Ostera, who, in Teutonic mythology, was the god- 
dess of spring and the personification of the dawn. 
Her feast was held by the Anglo-Saxons in the 

130 



THE LILY 131 

spring time. The early missionaries, finding it im- 
possible to do away with its observance, endeavored, 
as they did in many instances, to give the festival a 
Christian significance, utilizing the awakening of 
spring and the release of water from the icy bonds 
of winter as symbolizing the resurrection and the 
power of Christ over death and the grave. 
" Easter is pre-eminently the festival of flowers. 
Not only are the churches and homes decorated with 
cut flowers, and blossoming plants, but these beauti- 
ful messengers are used to convey the glad Easter 
greeting from friend to friend. While all flowers 
are appropriate, the white lily, symbol of purity, 
majesty, and innocence, has come to be the generally 
accepted favorite. 

The lily family includes flowers of many forms 
and colors. The name is often incorrectly applied 
to plants of distinctly different species, as the iris, 
the lotus, and the pond lily. 

v All through history and literature the rose and 
the lily have gone hand in hand. Although among 
the Greeks and Romans the rose was the favorite, 
the lily was held in high esteem, and in Egypt, India, 
and Arabia it was pre-eminent. Its appearance with 
the lotus was of very ancient date. Among the 
ancients it was known as the flower of Juno, and 
was consecrated to that imperious goddess as the 
rose was dedicated to Venus. 
■ One legend as to its origin is that when Her- 
cules was born, his father, Jupiter, was desirous that 



132 FLOWER LORE 

he should rank with the other deities. In order that 
this might be, the child must be endowed with im- 
mortality. Jupiter, therefore, ordered Somnus, the 
god of slumber, to prepare a sleeping draught, dis- 
guised in nectar, which he persuaded Juno to drink. 
The Queen immediately fell into a deep sleep, and 
while she slept Jupiter placed the infant at her breast 
that he might absorb the celestial nourishment which 
would insure immortality. The babe was hungry 
and drew the lacteal fluid faster than he could swal- 
low it. Some drops falling to the earth, there 
sprang up the white flower, which was ever after to 
rival the rose. V 

Another version is that, up to that time, the lily 
had been of a bright orange color, and that every 
blossom that was touched by a drop of the precious 
liquid immediately turned to a pure white. 

Still another tradition tells that the white lily was 
so much admired by all who saw it that Venus, who 
hated Juno, was very jealous, and one day inserted 
a colored pistil to mar the pure whiteness of the blos- 
som. The flower blushed with shame at a deed so 
unworthy of a goddess, and the origin of the red and 
the tiger lily is thus accounted for. 

There has been much discussion as to the par- 
ticular lily referred to by the Saviour in the Sermon 
on the Mount. Some contend that it was the 
white lily to which Solomon in his glory was not to 
be compared. But the lily of Palestine is by most 
authorities conceded to be of a bright orange red, 



THE LILY 133 

corresponding to the red prairie lily. This vari- 
ety abounds in the neighborhood of Galilee, and in 
season the fields present a gorgeous appearance. 

There is a tradition that prior to the crucifixion 
all the lilies in Palestine were white. But when 
Christ walked in Gethsemane the night before His 
death every flower of the garden bowed its head 
before His agony except the lily, who said : " He 
chose me as the most beautiful of all, and gorgeous 
above the greatest of kings. I will stand erect and 
comfort Him with my beauty and fragrance." As 
the Saviour passed He stopped for a moment to gaze 
at the beautiful flower shining in the moonlight. 
The lily was so overcome by His humility and her 
own unworthiness that she blushed a deep red and 
bowed her head in shame. From that time it be- 
came the red lily and has never held its head erect. 

There is no flower that has so many religious 
associations. It is the emblem of purity and truth. 
The Italian painters have made frequent use of this 
in symbolism. The Angel of the Annunciation is 
represented bearing in his hand white lilies. In 
many pictures of the Virgin Mother they appear in 
some form. 

In 1048 Garcia, the fourth King of Navarre, was 
dangerously ill, and he dreamed that he saw the 
Virgin emerging from one of the white lilies in the 
gardens of the palace. The sight induced a calm 
sleep from which he awoke much refreshed. On 
his recovery he instituted the order of the Blessed 



134 FLOWER LORE 

Lady of the Lily. Its members were the King and 
thirty-eight knights, each of whom wore upon his 
breast a silver lily, and was pledged to deeds of 
charity and purity of life. An order of the lily 
was also established in 1408 by Ferdinand of Ara- 
gon. The members were sworn into the service 
of Our Blessed Lady. 

But although the lily seems to be especially asso- 
ciated with the Madonna, legend also connects it 
with St. Catherine of Alexandria. Her father was 
Costis, the Emperor. Proud of his daughter's ex- 
traordinary abilities, he superintended her studies 
with much care. To her great sorrow he refused 
to accept the truths of Christianity, and although 
by her arguments drawn from the philosophers and 
the gospels she had convinced all of her masters, 
with her father they proved of no avail. After she 
had spent much time in fasting and prayer for his 
conversion, one night the Emperor had a dream. 
He was walking with his daughter, who talked to 
him on the subject that was nearest her heart. They 
came to a place where two paths met, one smooth 
and shaded, leading to a green valley; the other 
narrow, steep, and stony. Catherine turned into the 
narrow path, and, looking back at him with longing 
in her eyes, disappeared. Costis was hesitating 
which way to take, when a delicate perfume at- 
tracted him. It seemed to float down the narrow 
path and to draw him irresistibly in that direction. 
As he followed his daughter and drew near the top 



THE LILY 135 

of the hill the perfume grew stronger, and when 
he reached the summit he found himself in a field 
of white lilies, extending up to a golden gate, which 
dazzled his eyes with its glory. Falling down on 
his knees among the flowers Costis vowed to re- 
nounce his false gods and to adopt Christianity. 
As he was kneeling his daughter reappeared and 
admitted him through the golden gateway. 

When he awoke from his dream the Emperor sent 
for the Princess and rejoiced her heart by accepting 
the Christian faith. 

The lily, which up to this time had been without 
perfume, now became the sweetest of flowers. By 
common consent it was dedicated to St. Catherine. 

But the lily, as well as the rose, yielded to the 
beauty of the mystical Flower of Jesse, Our 
Saviour, of the root of Jesse. In an ancient carol, 
known to have been sung about 1426, appear these 
verses : 

Of lily, of rose of ryse, 

Of primrose, and of fleur-de-lys, 

Of all the flowers at my device, 

That Flower of Jesse yet bears the price, 

As most of heal 
To slake our sorrows every deal. 
I pray the flowers of this countree, 
Wherever ye go, wherever ye be, 
Hold up the Flower of good Jesse, 
For your freshness and your beauty, 

As fairest of all, 
And ever was and ever shall. 



136 FLOWER LORE 

Another tale explains why St. Joseph is so often 
represented holding a lily in his hand. Among the 
Hebrews, although the young men and maidens as- 
sociated together, when a girl was of marriageable 
age her father or mother and sometimes the High 
Priest selected a husband for her. 

When the time came to choose a husband for the 
Virgin Mary, who was an attendant at the temple, 
there were many who aspired to the honor. The 
High Priest prayed for a sign that he might choose 
aright. As was the custom in those days, the young 
men all carried staffs. One day they were told to 
leave them in the sanctuary of the temple until the 
next morning. At the appointed time, it was found 
that Joseph's staff was covered with beautiful white 
lilies, which had sprouted from it during the night. 

The plant, according to ancient testimony, was 
prolific in medicinal properties, no less than twenty- 
one remedies being derived from it. As an antidote 
for serpent bites, or for poison by fungi, it was re- 
garded as almost infallible. For a hair restora- 
tive the roots were boiled in olive oil. 

Among the Hebrews the lily was a cherished 
flower. It is referred to frequently in the Old Tes- 
tament. In the decoration of the magnificent tem- 
ple of Solomon the tops of the pillars in the porches 
were ornamented with lilies, and they were also 
wrought in the crown of King Solomon. 

When Judith undertook to deliver her people from 
the Assyrians and left Bethulia to go to the tent 



THE LILY 137 

of Holofernes, the captain of the besieging army, 
she wore them as a wreath. 

These numerous references have caused it to re- 
ceive particular notice in Jewish commentaries. A 
learned writer of the eleventh century, in giving a 
beautiful interpretation, says that it is one of the 
few flowers described in ancient Hebrew literature. 
A white flower of sweet but narcotic perfume. 
It has six petals and six stamens, and one pistil, 
representing the thirteen attributes of God. The 
heart of the blossom is always turned upward, and 
it is often found growing among thorns, symboliz- 
ing the trust in Jehovah which His children should 
feel even amid afflictions. The Semitic name of the 
lily is Azucena, which is translated Susannah. In 
Spain the flower is still known by that name." 

Its beauty is not its only claim to consideration. 
The roots and stalks of the plant have always been 
valued as food in Eastern countries. While no 
flower garden in Japan is complete without it as 
an ornament, there is never a well-chosen menu 
which does not include the products of the plant in 
some form. An analysis of the bulbs made by the 
Japanese government some years ago demonstrated 
that they contained over ninety-eight per cent, of 
nutritious matter. Their cultivation is an impor- 
tant industry. They are usually boiled and eaten 
with sugar, or cooked with rice. Americans use 
them for salad. A fine, starchy flour, useful in 
pastry and fine cooking, is made from them. The 



138 FLOWER LORE 

Aniu, an aboriginal race, supposed at one time to 
have inhabited the whole of Japan, but now like the 
American Indian, reduced to a few scattered groups, 
still depend chiefly for their vegetable diet upon 
certain species. There has been some investigation 
by the United States in regard to the cultivation of 
the lily for culinary purposes, but no report has yet 
been issued. 

The beautiful white lily, with which the churches 
at Easter are decorated, originated in Japan, and 
was carried to the Bermudas by some flower-loving 
sea captain between two and three hundred years 
ago. Owing to the advantages of climate it has 
developed a beauty and hardiness which has made 
it the admiration of two continents. 

In 1875 there was brought from Bermuda to Phil- 
adelphia two plants in blossom which were given to 
a local florist. In about three years they had in- 
creased to one hundred, and had attracted the atten- 
tion of other dealers. As the bulbs raised in this 
country do not produce as fine blossoms as those 
developed in Bermuda, the number imported every 
year is enormous, and the cultivation has become one 
of the leading industries of the islands. In 1903 a 
bulletin was issued by the United States which said 
that three million bulbs were imported annually 
from Bermuda. 

I The Song of Solomon exalts the lily above all 
other flowers. Dante represented the glorious mul- 
titude, with Beatrice in their midst, as scattering 



THE LILY 139 

lilies around them. It is only when he is cleansed 
from all sin that he deems himself worthy to even 
look upon the pure lily that blooms in Paradise. 
Leigh Hunt, in the Song of the Lilies, says : 

We are lilies fair, 

The flower of virgin light. 
Nature held us forth and said, 

Lo! my thoughts are white. 
Ever since then angels 

Hold us in their hands. 
You may see them when they take 

In pictures their sweet stands. 

v The Germans have a saying that if, when a lily 
is picked a certain prayer is said, the flower will 
protect against witchcraft. 

In Spain, if a person had been transformed into 
an animal by sorcery, it was believed that a lily 
would restore him. 

<tf A bibliography of the lily would refer to almost 
every poet of note from Homer to Tennyson, and 
the grand woman of America, who has only recently 
passed into " the beauty of the lilies," has glorified 
them in her masterpiece: 

In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across 

the sea, 
With the glory in His bosom that transfigures you 

and me ; 
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men 
free, 
While God is marching on. 
Julia Ward Howe, 

The Battle Hymn of the Republic. 



THE PASSION FLOWER 

RELIGIOUS SUPERSTITION 

Many a sign 
Of the great sacrifice which won us Heaven, 
The woodman and the mountaineer can trace 
On rock, on herb, and flower. And be it so! 
They do not wisely that, with hurried hand, 
Would pluck these salutary fancies forth 
From the strong soil within the peasant's breast, 
And scatter them — far, far too fast — away 
As worthless weeds. Oh ! little do we know 
When they have soothed, when saved. 

Mrs. Hemans, Wood Walk. 

Passiflora is the generic name for a large num- 
ber of very interesting plants, mostly of the climb- 
ing order. Their great attractiveness lies in the 
unusualness of the blossom. The principal vari- 
ety and the one which gave the name to the whole 
species is known to all the world as the passion 
flower. It is a native of South America and it is 
said that when the early missionaries, who so 
quickly followed in the steps of the Spanish in- 
vaders, first saw it hanging in festoons from the 
forest trees, with its luxuriant purple and white 
blossoms, they believed it to have been sent as an 
aid to them in the conversion of the natives to the 

140 



THE PASSION FLOWER 141 

Christian religion. The first account of the flower 
and its interpretation was written by Monardes, a 
physician and botanist of the sixteenth century. 
This description, with a drawing of the plant, was 
brought to Rome by *an Augustinian friar, Emanuel 
de Villegas, a native of the City of Mexico. It at- 
tracted the attention of Jacomo Bosio, the historian 
of the Knights of Malta, who was at the time en- 
gaged upon his great work, The Cross Triumphant. 
Bosio at first hesitated about introducing into his 
book the account of what he called so stupendous 
a flower. But the description of de Villegas, hav- 
ing been corroborated by other travelers from New 
Spain, he decided to mention it, as a most wonder- 
ful illustration of the cross triumphant in the world 
of nature. His description of the plant created 
a great excitement among the botanists and theo- 
logians of that day and led to its introduction soon 
after, into both Spain and Italy. Before 1625 some 
remarkable specimens had been produced in the gar- 
dens of the Cardinal Fornese, who was one of the 
most distinguished patrons of horticulture in Europe. 
Aldinus of Cesera, who was both the Cardinal's 
.physician and the keeper of his garden, writes : 
11 This wonderful plant is sung by poets, celebrated by 
orators, reasoned about by philosophers, praised by 
physicians for its numberless virtues, wondered at 
by theologians, and venerated by all Christians." The 
symbolical interpretations of the flower by both 
Bosio and Aldinus are most interesting; but as Bosio 



H2 FLOWER LORE 

had never seen it, it is probable that the one given by 
Aldinus more nearly corresponds to that which sen- 
timent may really find in it. 

The column rising from the center of the flower 
represents the upright beam of the cross. Above 
this are three, and sometimes four, small stems 
which are the nails. Surmounting the column is 
the corona, which symbolizes the crown of thorns, 
and around it is a veil of fine hairs colored like pea- 
cock's feathers, seventy-two in number, which are 
said to correspond to the number of thorns of which 
the crown was composed. The filaments suggest 
the scourge by which the Saviour was smitten. The 
small seed vessel is the sponge filled with vinegar, 
which was offered to quench His thirst. The five 
deep red spots upon each of the leaves are the five 
wounds. Hence the name given it by the Spaniards, 
flower of the five wounds. 

The resemblance of the blossom, when not en- 
tirely open, to a star, refers to the star seen by the 
three wise men. The five sepals and the five petals 
indicate the ten apostles, Peter, who denied our 
Lord, and Judas, who betrayed Him, being omitted. 
The purple blossoms are the purple robe which was 
put on Christ in mockery. The white blossoms rep- 
resent the purity and brightness of the Son of God. 

The flowers grow singly on the stem, typifying 
the loneliness of Christ. The leaves are set on the 
stock singly, for there is one God, but are triplicate 
in form to testify to the Trinity. The plant is a 



THE PASSION FLOWER 143 

vine and requires support. So the Christian, who 
would aspire, needs Divine assistance. The bell 
shape assumed by the flower when opening and fad- 
ing meant that God had not chosen to reveal the 
mysteries of His power until such time as should 
in His infinite wisdom seem best. If the plant is 
cut down, it grows again readily; therefore, who- 
ever bears in his heart the love of God cannot be 
harmed by the evil of the world. Such was the 
symbolism attributed to the plant by the old Spanish 
missionaries. All Christendom seems to have ac- 
cepted their ideas and they have become a part of 
the folk-lore of the Christian world. 

The first passion flower exhibited in England was 
brought from Virginia by some of the colonial ad- 
venturers, and attracted almost as much attention 
there as its South American relative attracted, at 
the same time, in Italy and Spain; but, while the 
beauty and sweetness of the flower was extolled 
by English writers, the religious significance at- 
tributed to it was criticized. Parkinson, one of the 
botanists of the time, suggested naming it clematis 
virginiana, meaning the virgin climber, partly with 
reference to the province from which it came and 
also in honor of Queen Elizabeth, the glory of whose 
reign was still fresh in the minds of the people. 
The flower, however, has still retained its Italian 
name and much of its religious association. For 
church decorations it is deemed a worthy companion 
of the rose and the lily. It is especially appropriate 



144 FLOWER LORE 

for memorial decorations. A wreath of passion 
flowers was, by the express request of Queen Vic- 
toria, laid upon the last resting place of the martyred 
Abraham Lincoln. It is considered a suitable deco* 
ration for All Saints* day. 

S. F. Smith wrote these appropriate lines : 

They called the purple circlet, there, 

The crown of thorns 'twas His to wear, 

And every leaf seemed to their eye 

Memorial of his agony. 

'Tis fancy all — yet do not scorn 

The thought of adoration born, 

But let each flower that meets our sight 

Recall the Lord of life and light. 

The flower also has its place in modern religious 
art and architecture. Workers in stained glass and 
mural decoration have made use of it almost to the 
exclusion of some of the older floral symbols. It 
holds an especially noteworthy place in the iron- 
work of the beautiful choir screens in the Cathedrals 
at Lichfield and at Hereford. 

In Lockhart's story of Valerius, a young Chris- 
tian maiden is referred to as gathering, in the 
garden of a stately Roman villa, a flower which 
symbolizes some of the deepest mysteries of her 
religion. That the author had in mind the passion 
flower there can be no reasonable doubt, but it is 
difficult to reconcile Lockhart's well-known classical 
accuracy with the fact that this flower was not 
known in Europe until several hundred years later 



THE PASSION FLOWER 145 

than the scene in which the story is laid. Many 
poets, like Rapin, have found the flower " too sug- 
gestive a theme to pass unmoved " and numerous 
verses have been written of it. Treatises have been 
printed, explaining its botanical or religious signifi- 
cance. To the Christian world at large, whether in 
its native South American home, in the gardens of 
Europe, or in the more tropical parts of our own 
country, it speaks symbolically. 

Art thou a type of beauty, or of power, 

Of sweet enjoyment, or disastrous sin? 
For each thy name denoteth, passion flower! 

Oh, no! thy pure corolla's depth within 
We trace a holier symbol, yes, a sign 
'Twixt God and man; 
It is the Cross ! 
Sir Aubrey De Vere, The Passion Flower. 



THE MANDRAKE 

RARITY 

And shrieks like mandrakes, torn out of the earth, 
That living mortals, hearing them, ran mad. 

Shakespeare. 

There are few plants around which has gathered 
such a wealth of legend and tradition as has accu- 
mulated around the flower known as the mandrake. 
From the earliest times to which history takes us it 
was held in veneration by the inhabitants of the 
Eastern lands. Many of the superstitions asso- 
ciated with it are unpleasant and most of them are 
uncanny. The plant itself is insignificant. The 
leaves rise directly from the ground. They are 
sharp-pointed, hairy, and of a vivid, dark-green 
color. The flower is a sickly white, veined with 
purple. The root is long and shaped like a parsnip. 
It is often forked, causing fanciful persons to im- 
agine that it bears some resemblance to a rudely 
formed human figure. To this fanciful likeness is 
due many of the superstitions that cluster around 
the plant. It was supposed by the Romans to be 
under the especial protection of Atropos, the sable- 
robed, grim-visaged fate, who remorselessly severed 
the thread of life which was spun by Clotho and 
twisted by Lachesis. By the Greeks it was known 

146 



THE MANDRAKE 147 

as Circean and was dedicated to Circe, the daughter 
of the sun, the golden-haired enchantress, celebrated 
for her knowledge of witchcraft, who so nearly ac- 
complished the undoing of those companions of 
Ulysses, when they accompanied him on his wander- 
ings after the sacking of Troy back to Ithaca. The 
roots cling tenaciously to the earth, and it was a 
current superstition that whenever the plant was 
gathered it gave vent to terrible shrieks and groans 
that sounded almost human, and were said to cause 
instant death to any creature who heard them. As 
the plants held an important place as a medical rem- 
edy among the ancients, an ingenious, if rather in- 
human, method of obtaining them was devised. The 
persons who gathered them, after carefully stopping 
their ears, fastened a dog securely to the plant by 
his tail. He was then driven or enticed away. 
Thus the root was dragged out of the earth, and the 
unfortunate animal dropped dead upon the spot as 
the plant emitted the most heart-rending screams. 
An old Jewish writer is authority for this tradition, 
but it seems to have been widely current. Shake- 
speare makes several allusions to it. At a later 
period a belief seems to have prevailed that if gath- 
ered at holy times and with the repetition of cer- 
tain invocations, which were probably anything but 
holy, the Evil One would aid the seeker of the plant, 
and it could be obtained with safety. Pliny writes 
that in Rome it was the custom of those who sought 
the roots to make three circles around the plant 



148 FLOWER LORE 

with the point of a sword, and then having turned 
toward the west they proceeded to dig it up. 

From ancient times, also, came the superstition 
that the plant grew only in dark places and throve 
under the shadow of a gallows, near a gibbet, or 
where criminals were buried. 

In later times the plant was looked upon as a 
preventative of illness and all danger. Mountebank 
doctors took advantage of the popular superstition 
and carved the roots into idols, which were regarded 
as oracles and treasured as safeguards against evil. 
The power was also attributed to them of increas- 
ing money, which was placed near them. These 
images were much valued in Germany. A letter 
written by a German burgomaster in Leipsic to his 
brother in Regi in 1675, which has been preserved, 
shows how the mandrake was regarded by the cred- 
ulous at that time. He had heard that his brother 
had been visited by misfortune. He therefore paid 
sixty- four thaler s for the little figure, which he sent 
to his brother, with these words : " When thou hast 
the earthman in thy house, let it rest for three days 
without approaching it ; then place it in warm water. 
Afterward with the water sprinkle all the animals 
and the sills of the house, and it shall go better 
with thee if thou shalt serve the earth manikin 
rightly." 

An Italian writer says that some of the ladies of 
Italy have been known to pay twenty-five or thirty 
ducats in gold for one of these charms. They were 



THE MANDRAKE 149 

introduced into England during the reign of King 
Henry VIII, where they found ready purchasers. 
Gararde, a celebrated botanist of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, endeavored to convince the credulous and 
superstitious that they were being duped, but he 
does not seem to have been very successful. As late 
as 1810 these images were seen exposed for sale in 
several of the seaport towns of France. If prop- 
erly secured, it was supposed to become a familiar 
spirit, which spoke in oracles and brought good luck. 

In the fourteenth verse of Chapter 30 of Genesis, 
it is said : " And Reuben went, in the days of the 
wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, 
and brought them unto his mother Leah." 

The leaves of the plant emit a powerful odor, 
which, when fresh, was supposed to be a baneful 
poison. The remedy, according to Pliny, was to 
soak them in brine. Persons ignorant of this fact 
have been said to have been made dumb by inhal- 
ing the odor to excess. In spite of this, the plant 
was credited with many curative properties. The 
juice, mixed with rose oil, was used for diseases of 
the eye. Administered in suitable quantities it was 
a wonderful narcotic. It was also beneficial for 
the bites of serpents and for incisions or injuries to 
the body. It was used to produce insensibility 
to pain, and in soothing nervous disorders, and for 
love potions. 

Among the numerous names by which it has been 
referred to are several that seem to indicate its 



150 FLOWER LORE 

association with the powers of evil. Among the 
Arabs it was known as the devil's apple and the 
devil's food. Because of the luminous quality of 
the leaves at night it was sometimes called the devil's 
candle. Moore alludes to this fact in his Lallah 
Rookh: 

Such rank and deadly luster dwells, 
As in those hellish fires that light 
The mandrake's charnel leaves at night. 

It is also sometimes called the may or love apple. 
The fruit when ripe is like a golden globe. 

That these uncanny beliefs continued almost to 
modern times is shown in an anecdote for which 
Madam du Noyer is authority. On the murder of 
the Marechal de Fabert, which was popularly attrib- 
uted to his having broken a contract with the devil, 
two mandrakes of extraordinary beauty were found 
in his rooms. These were considered by his friends 
as conclusive evidence of the compact of which they 
failed, however, to find any tangible proof. 

In literature the mandrake has been the subject 
of much study and conjecture. A great deal has 
been written of its magical qualities. Shakespeare 
and Moore both make frequent references to it, but 
the simpler poets, in spite of its historical interest, 
seem not to find it an agreeable subject for their 
verses. 

The blushing peach and glossy plum there lies, 

And with the mandrake tempt your hands and eyes. 

Jane Turrell, In Tuckermans America. 



THE MARIGOLD 

CRUELTY IN LOVE 

Nor shall the marigold unmentioned die, 
Which Acis once found out in Sicily; 
She Phoebus loves, and from him draws his hue, 
And ever keeps his golden beam in view. 

Rapin. 

Coarse marigold, in days of yore, 

I scorned thy tawny face, 
But since my plants are frail and few, 

I've given thee welcome place. 

Mrs. Sigourney. 

The marigold is a classic. It is supposed to have 
been the gold-flower of the ancient Greeks, and was 
used by them for decoration at their most important 
festivals. Rapin, the French poet, gives an ac- 
count of the origin of the flower. Of all the gods 
who dwelt on Mount Olympus, Apollo was the most 
attractive, and all the foolish nymphs and shep- 
herdesses vied with each other to gain his attention. 
Among the attendants of his sister, Diana, were four 
little wood-nymphs, who accompanied her when she 
went hunting. Every one of them fell in love with 
the beautiful sun-god. They were so jealous of 
each other that they quarreled continually. When 
Diana discovered this she was much displeased and 

151 



152 FLOWER LORE 

changed them all into gold-flowers. Ever since that 
time yellow has been the color that represents jeal- 
ousy. Chaucer probably had this in mind, when in 
the Knight's Tale, the Queen refers to " Jealousy — 
that wears of yellow goldes, a garland." 

By the Romans the flower was known as calen- 
dula, or the flower of all months, because it was said 
to be in blossom during every month of the year. 
This may have been true of warm Eastern coun- 
tries, but it is not of France, England, or America, 
where the flower is reckoned as one of the blossoms 
of the late summer and early autumn. However, it 
originated in Asia. 

The Swedish botanist, Linnaeus, who is regarded 
as the highest authority, has noted that the flower 
usually opens in the morning, after the sun is well 
up, and closes about three o'clock in the afternoon. 

In India the Buddhists hold it as sacred to the 
great goddess Maha-devi. Her trident emblem is 
adorned with these flowers, and both men and 
women wear garlands of them at her sacred fes- 
tivals. In Provence the flower is known as gauche- 
fer, meaning left-hand iron, probably because its 
round, brilliant disk suggests the polished shield once 
borne by warriors on the left arm. The common 
French name is souci du jardin. The old spelling 
was soulsi, which shows its derivation from sol, the 
sun. The full name was solsequieum, which means 
sun follower. By the Germans it is called gelt or 
gold-flower. It was introduced into England about 



THE MARIGOLD 153 

1573 and immediately became very popular. The 
botanical records of the period mentioned it as mary 
gowles. In some parts of England it is still spoken 
of as gowles or goulans. Another old name, which 
is not entirely obsolete, is ruddes. It was also often 
called simply golde! A writer of the time of Eliza- 
beth says : " Maydens make garlands of it which 
they wear to feests and brydeales." To dream of 
marigolds was regarded as fortunate. It foretold 
a happy marriage, wealth, riches, and success. 

From Breton comes a tale that, if a maiden 
touches a marigold with her bare foot, she will be 
able, afterwards, to understand the language of 
birds. 

In the early dawn of Christianity, when the minds 
of the people were still filled with the myths and 
mystical rites of pagan worship, it is not surprising 
that the early Christians should have transferred 
many of the old poetic thoughts to the worship of 
God and His saints, nor that beautiful flowers should 
be associated with noble deeds, or held as memo- 
rials of heroic sacrifices. Thus it was not unusual 
to prefix the name of the Virgin Mary to anything 
that was regarded as especially beautiful. As the 
golde was one of the most admired of flowers, in 
time it became known as the mary-golde. In an 
old church calendar it is designated as the appropri- 
ate flower for the twenty-fifth of March, or Lady 
Day, when the Feast of the Annunciation of the 
Blessed Virgin is celebrated. There is a tradition 



154 FLOWER LORE 

that the Holy Mother wore a mary-golde in her 
bosom on that day, and a painter named Bartolomeo, 
who painted in 1430, represents her as clothed in 
a white robe covered with golden flowers, not unlike 
the marigold. 

The flower has also a place in heraldry. Mar- 
garet of Orleans, the maternal grandmother of King 
Henry IV, chose it as her armorial device, with the 
motto, " Je ne veux suivre que lui seul," meaning 
that she hoped her thoughts would always turn 
heavenward as the flower turned toward the sun. 
During the reign of King Henry VIII the flower 
was in high favor. Baskets of it were sent by 
gentlemen to the belles whom they admired. On 
special occasions, such as holidays and birthdays, 
wreaths of the smaller blossoms trimmed with 
heartsease were worn by ladies of the court to balls 
and fetes. 

In Mexico it is called the flower of death, and 
there is a tradition that it sprang from the ground 
stained with the life-blood of those natives who 
were slaughtered by the early Spanish invaders in 
their insatiable thirst for gold. It is used exten- 
sively to decorate the churches and for religious pur- 
poses, but there it is never made use of on festive 
occasions. 

In colonial days it was a cherished occupant of 
the front yards of our forefathers ; but fashion, the 
autocratic dame, relegated it to the kitchen garden, 
where it bloomed in cheerful obscurity for many 



THE MARIGOLD 155 

years, until the pre-Raphaelites resurrected it with 
the sunflower and some others. When it did not 
open about seven o'clock in the morning the gar- 
deners knew that rain was likely. It now flourishes 
in a proud place of honor among those who wonder 
how it could ever nave been thought common. 

In literature it is given a place more prominent 
than many flowers that would seem more deserving. 
This is particularly the case among the early Eng- 
lish poets. Chaucer and Shakespeare frequently 
mention it. Chatterton, the boy prodigy of Eng- 
land, Browne, Herrick, and Constable all make use 
of it. Gay causes one of his shepherds to propound 
this riddle: 

What is that flower that bears the Virgin's name, 
The richest metal joined with the same? 

George Withers, a contemporary of Shakespeare, 
in his quaint manner moralizes at some length upon 
its habits and attributes : 

How duly, every morning, she displays 

Her open breast, when Phoebus spreads his rays ; 

How she observes him, in his daily walk, 

Still bending tow'rds him her small slender stalk; 

How when he down declines, she droops and mourns, 

Bedewed, as 'twere with tears, till he returns. 

Keats sings to it in his own inimitable verse: 

Open afresh your round of starry folds, 
Ye ardent marigolds ! 

Dry up the moisture from your golden lids, 
For great Apollo bids 



156 FLOWER LORE 

That in these days your praises should be sung 
On many harps, which he has lately strung; 
And when again your dewiness he kisses, 
Tell him, I have you in my world of blisses : 
So haply when I rove in some far vale, 
His mighty voice may come upon the gale. 
Keats, / Stood Tiptoe upon a Little Hill. 



THE ORCHID 

A BELLE 

Who hung thy beauty on such slender stalk, 
Thou glorious flower? 

Mrs. Sigourney. 

How comest thou hither? From what soil, 

Where those that went before thee grew 
Exempt from suffering, care and toil, 

Clad by the sunbeams, fed with dew? 
Teli'me on what strange spot of ground 
Thy rock-born kindred yet are found, 
And I the carrier-dove will be 
To bring them wondrous news of thee. 

Montgomery. 

Orchids have been called the elite among the 
flowers and undoubtedly lead in the fashionable 
world. The name, of Greek derivation, denotes 
the antiquity of the family and mythology gives an 
account of its origin. The satyrs were the deities 
of the woodlands, and the attendants of Dionysos 
or Bacchus. Orchis was the son of Pantellanus, 
the satyr, who was appointed to preside over cer- 
tain bacchanalian feasts. At one of these he be- 
haved so badly that the bacchanals seized him and 
literally tore him into a hundred pieces. His father 
begged them to spare him, but the only concession 

157 



158 FLOWER LORE 

that they would make was that the mangled body 
should be changed into flowers, each piece taking 
a different shape and color. Therefore, the ancients 
called them satyr ion, or flowers of the satyrs, who 
were supposed to feed upon the roots of these plants. 
To this was attributed many of the excesses which 
were characteristic of the attendants of Bacchus. 
Ten medicinal properties were accredited to the 
plant. The roots grated and made into a paste were 
used in cases of external swellings. Boiled in water 
it was said to be healing to ulcers in the mouth. 
The juice, mixed with wine, was beneficial in cases 
of chronic intestinal trouble. 

According to one of the most reliable authorities 
there are over twelve thousand varieties, the flowers 
of which, although differing widely within certain 
limits, are all formed upon one common plan. The 
differences, which are often extraordinary, and even 
grotesque, are brought about by what is known, in 
the botanical world, as cross-fertilization, which is 
effected by means of insects that carry the pollen 
from one flower to another. Darwin has written 
an exhaustive treatise upon this subject in which 
he says that a close examination of the habits of 
this plant will " exalt the whole vegetable kingdom 
in the minds of most persons." 

It is an illustration of the saying that " Nature 
is much given to counterfeiting her own work," 
that among its blossoms are found many striking 
imitations of animal life. The bee and the butter- 



THE ORCHID 159 

fly orchids are named from their likeness to these 
insects. The fly, the spider, the lizard, the bird's 
nest, the swan, and the monkey are all known to the 
experts. One species which blooms in Antrim is 
called anthropophora, or man orchid, because it re- 
sembles very exactly the body of a man wearing an 
extraordinarily large hat. A strangely beautiful 
type is a pure white blossom, called in South Amer- 
ica el Spirito Santo, meaning the flower of the Holy 
Ghost. Many of the species belong to the class 
known as air plants. In the forests of South 
America, Mexico, and the East Indies, where the 
greater number of the more important plants are 
found, they grow from the trunks and branches of 
trees and in crevices of the rocks, without soil or 
direct supply of water. The seeds are so minute 
that they are blown about by the wind like dust. 
This accounts for the singular places in which the 
plants have taken root. Although orchids are 
among the greatest curiosities in the whole range of 
the vegetable world, they have comparatively re- 
cently become well known and appreciated. It is 
about a century since they were introduced into the 
hot-houses of England, and they came into North 
America still later. When the first plants were sent 
by missionaries and army officers, they quickly at- 
tracted the attention of florists, and soon the orchid 
mania bade fair to rival the tulip mania, which 
shook financial Holland to its center in the seven- 
teenth century. They are found in almost every 



160 FLOWER LORE 

part of the world, excepting where it is very cold, 
but grow most luxuriantly in the warmth and mois- 
ture of the tropics. Few who view these wonder- 
ful flowers with delight at exhibitions, or in orchid 
houses, know the difficulties under which the foreign 
specimens are obtained. Collectors, who are sent 
out by firms, societies, or individuals, are obliged 
to penetrate dense forests, exposed to danger from 
wild beasts, poisonous reptiles, and pestilential 
swamps. Often they go among savage tribes who 
resent the intrusion into their territory. One firm 
of English importers reported five collectors killed 
in as many months by the natives on the western 
slopes of the Himalayas. Many a rare specimen 
has been secured at the cost of a human life. Lon- 
don is the great orchid market of the world, and 
enormous prices are paid for single plants at auc- 
tions. Ten thousand five hundred dollars is said 
to have been bid for a rare specimen. Much higher 
prices have been paid at private sales. Among noted 
collectors in England were Sir Rider Haggard, the 
Rothschilds, and Kitchener of Khartoum. Sir Jo- 
seph Chamberlain was the possessor of a magnifi- 
cent collection in which he took great delight. After 
eighteen years of experimenting he had the satis- 
faction of producing an entirely new hybrid orchid, 
which he introduced to the floral world by a Latin 
name which means Chamberlain triumphant. It was 
his habit when in London to have two blossoms 
suitable for the purpose sent every morning from 



THE ORCHID 161 

his Birmingham home and to appear daily in the 
House of Commons with one of them in his coat, 
reserving the other for evening dress. 

Among American collections, those of Mrs. G. 
W. Wilson of Philadelphia, H. S. Brown of Kirk- 
wood, Me., and Oliver Ames at North Easton, 
Mass., probably rank as high as any. The White 
House conservatories have quite a good collection, 
which was recently increased by the gift of a large 
number from the Philippine Islands. A special car 
was chartered to transport them from San Francisco 
to Washington. 

In March, 1857, a new specimen of cypripedium, 
which is the botanical name of the genus, was ex- 
hibited in London. It had been sent by a druggist, 
named Simons, from Assam. The memoranda 
which should have accompanied it were lost and 
nothing definite was known about it. The blossom 
was very beautiful and florists tried in vain to re- 
produce it, but one of the peculiarities of the flowers 
is that they will not generate their own pollen. Hy- 
bridists were few in those days, methods not being 
well understood, and the variety gradually died out, 
until in 1876 it was classed as lost. In spite of the 
fact that special collectors were sent out to search 
every nook and corner of the world, and that, for 
twenty years, a standing reward of ten thousand 
dollars was offered to any one who would find a 
living specimen of the farrieneum variety, it re- 
mained undiscovered for almost fifty years. Eng- 



162 FLOWER LORE 

land had long desired to open commerce with Thibet, 
and while Russia and Japan were contending for 
Manchuria, English forces under Captain Young- 
husband were dispatched to penetrate the sacred pre- 
cincts of Lhassa. Accompanying the troops was an 
engineer, named Seabright, who was also an ama- 
teur botanist. During one of his rambles he came 
upon the lost orchid. He sent the plants to Cal- 
cutta, where they were verified by Indian experts. 
In the spring of 1905, when one hundred and 
seventy-nine living plants were received in London, 
the reward was paid to him. 

Ten varieties are natives of our country and are 
commonly known as the lady's-slipper, and some- 
times, locally, as the moccasin flower. Originally 
it was Our Lady's Slipper, referring to the Virgin. 
In 1893 th e legislature of Minnesota passed an act 
naming the moccasin as the state flower. 

In the pharmacopeia of the United States the 
orchid has an important place, but the remedies de- 
rived from it are directly opposite in their effect 
to those attributed to it by the ancients. Instead 
of a stimulant, it is now regarded as a sedative, and 
is used with beneficial effect in nervous and hys- 
terical disorders, including epilepsy and tremors. 
It has none of the ill-effects of a narcotic. It 
is said to be the best American substitute for 
valerian. 

The vanilla bean, from which is produced the 
vanilla of commerce, is the seed of one variety. It 



THE ORCHID 163 

is a climber and sometimes grows to a height of 
twenty or thirty feet, covering the tree upon which 
it finds support. It is cultivated principally in 
Mexico, South America, and Ceylon. 

Among the thousands of different species, it 
would be strange if there were not at least one with 
sacred associations. 

There is an English variety which has dark pur- 
ple spots on the leaves, and the tradition is that 
this plant grew upon Calvary and that the leaves 
were stained with the blood that flowed from the 
wounds of the crucified Saviour. Another legend 
is that it grew in the garden of Gethsemane and 
that the drops of blood which our Lord sweated in 
His hour of agony fell upon the leaves and stained 
them. In some places the flower is still called Geth- 
semane. Shakespeare refers to it as long purples, 
or dead men's fingers. It is supposed to grow most 
luxuriantly in soil under which there are rich metal 
deposits. In China there is a secret league, known 
as the Society of the Golden Orchid. 

As the orchid has increased in popularity a spe- 
cial literature about it has grown up. There are 
magnificently illustrated monographs and periodicals 
entirely devoted to it; books and pamphlets on its 
cultivation, and catalogues of the different collect- 
ors. But although a flower of fashion, it does not 
seem to have appealed to the poets. Perhaps they 
have felt their inability to adequately extol its 
beauties. 



164 FLOWER LORE 

Jean Ingelow tells us that the " purple orchid 
lasteth long," and Bayard Taylor wrote: 

Around the pillars of the palm-tree bower 

The orchids cling, in rose and purple sphere; — 

While the peculiar shapes of some of the insect- 
like varieties are also referred to : 

Think not to set the captive free, 
'Tis but the picture of a bee, 
Yet wonder not that nature's power 
Should paint an insect in a flower, 
And stoop to means that bear in part 
Resemblance to imperfect art. 

Snow, The Orchis, 



THE VERBENA 

YOU ENCHANT ME 

Sweet verbena ! which being brushed against, 
Will hold you three hours after by the smell, 
In spite of long walks on the windy hills. 

E. B. Browning, Aurora Leigh. 

Verbena was an old Latin name for the flower 
that was later known throughout Europe as ver- 
vain. Both names mean a green bough. As an 
holy herb, it was held in the highest veneration by 
both Greeks and Romans, and marvelous qualities 
were attributed to it, not the least of which was the 
power of reconciling the bitterest enemies. It bore 
a prominent part in the official life of both nations. 
When the Romans felt that they had been treated 
discourteously by any of their neighbors, it was 
their custom to select four heralds from the mem- 
bers of the fetiales, whose duty it was to maintain 
the forms of international relationship, act as 
guardians of the public faith, and demand redress. 
These four selected one of their number to act as 
spokesman, who was sometimes the pater patratus 
or president of the college, but more generally he 
was merely a member and known as the verbenarius. 
Clothed in their priestly robes, wearing the insignia 
of their office, and preceded by the verbenarius, who 

165 



1 66 FLOWER LORE 

in addition to his other vestments wore a white 
woolen band around his head, together with a wreath 
of the sacred verbena, gathered within the enclosure 
of the Capitoline Hill, and all bearing boughs of the 
same sacred plant, they advanced to the place where 
their negotiations were to be conducted. If war 
was decided upon, the verbenarius and his col- 
leagues, wearing wreaths of verbena, approached the 
confines of the hostile territory. Throwing across 
the boundary a spear tipped with iron, and having 
a sprig of the holy herb bound upon its point, a 
solemn declaration of war was announced, and Jup- 
iter was called upon to witness the justice of their 
cause. All treaties were approved by the college 
before they became effective and war was not de- 
clared until the demand for redress had first been 
made. 

It was with water, in which this plant had been 
steeped, that the festal table of Jupiter was cleansed 
just before the feasts, which were prepared in the 
capitol by the septemviri in his honor. If the water 
was also used to sprinkle the banqueting couches 
before a feast, the merriment and hilarity was said 
to be thereby greatly promoted. Fletcher, in the 
Faithful Shepherdess, wrote : 

And those light vervain, too, thou must go after, 
Provoking easy souls to mirth and laughter. 

It was likewise used to cleanse houses in the be- 
lief that it kept away evil spirits. It was known 



THE VERBENA 167 

as Juno's tears. A few leaves were worn on the 
person as a protection from harm. Romulus and 
Tatius, the Sabine, who ruled with him for seven 
years, are reported to have ordered that branches 
of the plant should be sent to them as a New Year's 
offering to insure their good fortune during the 
ensuing year. It was a favorite bridal flower. 
Roman brides were considered fortunate who wore 
a wreath which they gathered themselves. This 
tradition is doubtless the origin of a custom which 
has, until recently, been in vogue in some parts of 
Germany, where a bride is presented with a hat 
made of the blossoms, which she must wear during 
the ceremony. 

In Persia it was held in scarcely less veneration 
than among the Greeks and Romans. The priests 
of the temples of the sun always bore branches of 
it in their hands when they approached the altar, 
and the gathering of the plants was attended with 
much solemnity. It must take place at a time when 
neither the sun nor the moon was visible. The roots 
were carefully cut below the surface and honey from 
the comb was poured into the place thus left vacant 
to appease the earth for robbing it of so precious 
a possession. 

The magicians of the East also used it as a sym- 
bol of enchantment. They were responsible for 
the belief that if one smeared the body all over with 
the juice of the herb he would obtain whatever he 
might desire. He would also be enabled to cure 



168 FLOWER LORE 

any disease and reconcile those who were at 
enmity. 

Among the Druids of ancient Briton the plant 
was known by the name of vervain or holy herb. 
Almost the same ceremonies were observed in cut- 
ting it as were in vogue among the Persians, but 
with the restriction that the left hand only must 
be used. The leaves, stocks, and flowers were dried 
separately, and when mixed with wine were con- 
sidered a certain cure for serpents' bites. At the 
time of the gathering of the mistletoe, a herald, 
clothed in white and bearing in his hands verbena 
branches, encircled by serpents, accompanied the 
druidic procession. When performing their daily 
task of feeding the never-dying fires in the temple, 
the priests spent half an hour in prayer, before the 
altar, holding in their hands branches of the sacred 
herb. One writer on antiquities states that the ver- 
vain was as especially holy to the priestesses as the 
mistletoe was to the priests. No one was allowed 
to touch it with the hand, and when it was gathered 
it must be at the full moon. A string was looped 
over the plant and then fastened to the toe of a 
young maid, who pulled until it was uprooted. The 
oldest druidess then threw a cloth over it and gath- 
ered it up. It was used in the sacred rites for offer- 
ings to the gods and medicinally as a cooling remedy. 

During the Middle Ages the plant still retained 
its popularity. It was prescribed as a remedy for 
thirty different ailments, and for this reason was 



THE VERBENA 169 

known as simples joy. In spite of the fact that it 
was used by witches for working their spells it was 
also used to combat the enchantments. Aubrey 
quotes the old English proverb : " Vervain and dill 
hinder witches in their will." Dill is a flowering 
plant used in medicine. On Christmas Eve great 
bonfires were built, and the young men and maidens 
danced around them, wearing wreaths and garlands 
of vervain. Any young woman who gave to her 
lover a garland gathered and woven by her own 
hands insured his fidelity for at least all that year. 
Even now the superstition of its efficiency as a love- 
philter has not entirely died out in some parts of 
England. A knot of vervain tied with white satin 
ribbon is still worn as a preventive of ague. French 
peasants gather the plant under certain phases of 
the moon, hoping with its magical assistance to 
charm those whose affection they desire. The Hun- 
garian gipsies call it the lock-opening herb, saying 
that if a small incision is made in the palm of the 
hand, and a tiny piece of the leaf placed in the 
cut, the wound being allowed to heal over, one will 
be able to open all bolts and bars with a single 
touch. It is confidently asserted that therein lay 
the secret of the success of all the most famous 
brigands of old. 

The plant is not without religious- association. 
As late as the seventeenth century it was known in 
Brittany as the herb-of-the-cross. The Reverend 
John White, in 1624, wrote of it: 



170 FLOWER LORE 

Hallowed be thou, vervain, as thou growest in the 

ground, 
For on the Mount of Calvary thou first wert found. 

Ben Jonson referred to the sacredness of the 
plant when he wrote : " Bring your garlands and 
with reverence place the vervain on the altar." 

About 1826 the plant attracted the attention of 
English florists, who succeeded in obtaining several 
species of great beauty. Under the old Latin name 
of verbena it won great favor as a garden flower. 
Fourteen varieties are native in the United States. 
In 1839, Robert Buiot, of Philadelphia, introduced 
the cultivation, and it was in the height of its pop- 
ularity from 1848 to 1868, when it was beset with 
many destructive insects and diseases. When cul- 
tivated it includes all colors except yellow and pure 
blue, and some kinds are very fragrant. Other 
flowers have succeeded it in popularity. 

It has never held a prominent place in literature. 
Virgil refers to it as a symbol of enchantment. The 
earlier English writers made frequent allusions both 
to its classical associations and to the superstitions 
connected with it during their own time. Dr. John- 
son says that Satan has no power over a maiden 
who wears vervain and St. Johnswort about her. 
But elsewhere it appears that when it is gathered a 
cross must be first made over it and then a prayer 
said. Thereupon it is said to have been " crossed 
and blessed." 

Another old book says that to prepare a magic 



THE VERBENA 171 

staff there must be put into a hollow place in it 
seven leaves of vervain, which must have been 
gathered on the eve of St. John the Baptist, and 
a stone of divers colors, which must be found in 
the nest of a bird called the lapwing. The hollow 
must be stopped up with boxwood. The staff, 
among other things, will preserve him who carries 
it from robbers, wild animals, and mad dogs. 
It does not seem to have attracted modern writers. 

A wreath of vervain heralds wear, 
Amongst our garlands named, 

Being sent the dreadful news to bear 
Offensive war proclaimed. 

Drayton. 



THE WATER LILY 

ELOQUENCE — PURITY OF HEART 

In that dusk land of mystic dream, 

Where dark Osiris sprung, 
It bloomed beside his sacred stream, 

While yet the world was young. 

William Winter, A Lotus Flower. 

A flower delicious as the rose 
And stately as a lily in her pride. 

Under the name of the lotus, which some of our 
modern iconoclasts now declare to be historically 
incorrect, the water lily has drawn around it all the 
rich symbolism of the East. Long before Homeric 
days it was sacred, not only as a symbol, but was 
in itself an object of worship as the tree of life. 

According to Hindu theology, before the creation 
of the world, a great sea existed everywhere. Om, 
the Supreme, thought, and behold, Vishnu, the pre- 
server, appeared floating in the water. He neither 
swam nor walked, but was borne by the gods upon 
nine golden lotus plants. From his body arose one 
of the blossoms in which was seated Brahma, the 
creator, who by his radiant countenance dispelled 
the gloom which hung over the waters, and by the 
power of his presence caused the earth to rise out 

172 



THE WATER LILY 173 

of the sea. The paradise of the Hindu is described 
in the Mahabharata, the great Indian poem, as 
brilliant with gold and gems, and having many 
green valleys and beautiful lakes, upon the surface 
of which are myriads of these lilies, white, blue, 
and red, some of which have as many as a thou- 
sand petals. On a throne covered with them sits 
Om, the Supreme, and beside him is enthroned 
Lokamata, the mother of the world, who sitting 
upon a lily holds another in her hand. The sweet 
odor of the blossom is diffused all through the 
heavens. Buddha also appeared on earth, floating 
on the water in an enormous lotus and carrying 
another surmounted by a trident as his symbol. 
Many of the sacred images of India are represented 
as seated upon one, and it enters conspicuously into 
the decorations of their temples. 

In Egypt the plant was regarded as under the 
especial protection of the gods. It was dedicated 
to Osiris, the Apollo of the Egyptians. Dawn was 
typified by a youth dancing in a water lily. Like 
the Brahmans, their story of the creation was that 
a lily appeared upon the surface of the water and 
its leaves unfolded under the rays of Osiris, the 
sun-god. The ancient Egyptian always carried one 
of these lilies in his hand when approaching a place 
of worship, and offerings of them were placed in 
the tombs to pacify the anger of the gods. At fes- 
tivals the walls of the banqueting halls were deco- 
rated, and great vases filled with them stood about 



174 FLOWER LORE 

the room and on the tables. Wreaths and neck- 
laces, made from the stems and blossoms, were 
placed by the servants upon the heads and around 
the necks of the guests. While the lotus was rev- 
erenced by the inhabitants of Upper Egypt, in 
Lower Egypt the papyrus was the sacred plant. 
The Indian variety was of a pinkish tinge, while 
that of Egypt was pure white. Both the seed and 
the root of the latter were used for food. The 
root was said to enclose a nut more delicate than 
the almond. The seeds were dried and then 
powdered into a flour, from which bread was 
made. 

In sowing the seeds they were enclosed in a ball 
of clay and thrown into the water. Some of the 
commentators suggest that this custom was referred 
to by Solomon in Ecclesiastes xi, i, when he wrote : 
" Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt 
find it after many days." The Egyptians have 
many names for the plant, among them being one 
which means bride of the Nile. The surface of 
that great river, at the time of its rising, is covered 
with thousands of the white blossoms. 

The Greeks regarded the water lily as the symbol 
of beauty and eloquence. According to their my- 
thology, it owed its origin to a beautiful nymph, 
named Lotus, who fell deeply in love with Hercules. 
When he did not return her affection she died of a 
broken heart. Hebe, taking pity upon her, trans- 
formed her into the water lily. Long after, when 



THE WATER LILY 175 

Hercules went sailing with Jason in search of the 
golden fleece, he took with him Hylas, a youth 
whom he loved as his own son. When they reached 
the Hellespont they landed and prepared to rest. 
Hylas was sent to find a spring where they might 
get some water to 1 drink. He found one near a 
pool of water, surrounded by green rushes and 
maiden-hair fern. The surface of the water was 
covered with white water lilies, each one being the 
home of a beautiful water-nymph. When Hylas 
put his pitcher down to dip up the water the maids 
all clung to his hand and drew him down into the 
depths of the pool. Just then one of the Argo- 
nauts shouted that the wind was fair for sailing. 
Hylas endeavored to go, but the water-nymphs held 
him fast. Hercules called him loudly three times, 
and the youth heard, but he could not answer, and 
his companions sailed mournfully away. Lotus 
was avenged, but the flowers were tinted with gold, 
the identifying color of an Argonaut, and the origin 
of the yellow water lily is thus accounted for. This 
is the source of the botanical name castalia 
nymphaea, the Latin word lutea being added for the 
yellow variety. 

Some writers insist that the magic food upon 
which the lotus-eaters subsisted, and which caused 
whoever partook of it to forget everything in the 
dreamy languor of the present, was made from the 
seed of the Indian species. 

When Ulysses in his wanderings came to the en- 



176 FLOWER LORE 

chanted island he sent three chosen men to explore 
the country. The islanders met them and enter- 
tained them hospitably; but after they had eaten of 
the food offered them they forgot country and 
friends, and refused to leave that happy land " where 
all things always seemed the same." Their leader, 
having had them bound hand and foot and forcibly 
brought on board ship, weighed anchor and hastily 
sailed away from the fatal shore. 

The Japanese hold the plant in scarcely less 
veneration than their oriental neighbors. It is to 
them a constant symbol of purity and truth. As it 
is associated with death and the spirit world, the 
lily is considered inappropriate as a decoration for 
festivities. Certain sects believe that it is the flower 
of paradise, and when a death occurs on earth a 
new water lily appears on the surface of the lake 
in Nirvana, while the soul makes its entrance into 
the land of the blest at the unfolding of its own 
bud. 

In China, the Shing-moo, or holy mother, is rep- 
resented holding the lily in her hand. Few of 
their temples are without some representation of 
it. Abbe Hue, who was one of the first writers to 
give any account of the Chinese, said that the roots 
and seeds of the plant are a great resource in culi- 
nary preparations, and that in whatever manner it 
is dressed it is delicious and wholesome. The large 
leaves are made use of instead of paper for wrap- 
ping up parcels, The, Chinese poets are very fond 



THE WATER LILY 177 

of expatiating upon the beauty of the water lily 
gleaming in the moonlight, illumined by swarms of 
glow-worms and fire-flies. 

Isis, the goddess of fertility and abundance, was 
regarded by the adherents of the Hindu religion 
as the Queen of Heaven, and cakes made of corn 
and lotus seeds were favorite offerings to her. In 
the conspiracy which arose in British India, in 1857, 
and which resulted in the terrible Indian mutiny, 
these cakes accompanied by a lotus blossom were 
circulated among the Sepoys to notify them that 
they must rally to the standard of Buddha. What- 
ever other elements entered into that strife, whether 
the ambitions of princes, the desire for gain, or the 
intrigues of rival nations, the student of history will 
not fail to discern that a deeper one was the conflict 
between the lotus and the cross. 

The Order of the Lotus is conferred upon those 
who have attained prominence in the administration 
of British India, and the collar of the order is orna- 
mented with the heraldic rose of England alternat- 
ing with the Indian lotus. 

The beauty of the flower is thus emphasized by 
Shelley in the Passing Cloud: 

Such luster water lilies throw 
Upon the brook that lies below, 
Lipping their blossoms with its flow, 
'Twould make a landscape painter pine 
To win a hue to match with thine 
To make his martyr's mantle shine. 



178 FLOWER LORE 

Dr. Halbertsma says that the old Frisians, who 
thought the water lily had mystical powers, also 
believed that if a person fell with one in his hand 
he would become subject to fits. v 

In several countries it was regarded as an anti- 
dote where a person had taken a love potion. 

The Wallachians have a superstition that every 
flower has a soul, and they say that the lily is the 
sinless flower, and when it dies it blossoms again at 
the doors of heaven, where it judges the souls of 
the other flowers as they arrive, and solemnly de- 
mands of each flower a strict account of the use it 
has made of its perfume. 

An Eastern song tells the tale of a star that 
looked down upon a water lily as the sun stepped 
into the golden sea and loved her. But she was 
too sleepy to care much about his fond words, and 
she tightly closed the great thick leaves about her 
beauty. He could not see her in the daytime, be- 
cause of the brightness of the sun, and it was only 
at evening that he could smile upon her, but then 
she was too tired to respond. At last his heart 
burst and he shot from the sky into the pond. For 
a moment the lily was startled and opened her 
leaves to look at the bright glare. But the falling 
star plunged into the water and his light and beauty 
were extinguished forever. 

In our country, also, legends of the pond lily 
originated. Many, many years ago, when the In- 
dians alone possessed the American wilderness, a 



THE WATER LILY 179 

band of warriors were encamped on the shore of a 
lake. At night, as they sat and smoked their 
pipes, they watched the stars, for in them they be- 
lieved dwelt the good who had been taken away by 
the Great Spirit. Once they saw a star that seemed 
brighter and nearer than any of the others. A 
council of their wise men was called to ascertain 
the meaning of this wonder. Some thought that 
it was an omen of evil; others that it was a mes- 
senger of good. A whole moon passed and the 
mystery remained unsolved. One night a young 
brave dreamed that a radiant maiden stood beside 
him and said : " I love your land, its lakes and its 
mountains, its birds and its flowers, and I have left 
my sisters to dwell among you. Ask your people 
where I can live and what form I shall take to be 
loved of all." At dawn the warriors were sum- 
moned to the council lodge, and the young brave 
reported his dream. Three of the wisest were 
chosen to welcome the stranger. They were sur- 
prised to find that as they went toward the star 
it seemed to advance nearer and nearer to meet 
them, until it was almost within their reach. They 
offered a pipe of peace filled with fragrant herbs, 
and it was taken by unseen hands. As they re- 
turned, the star followed, and hovered over the 
camp until dawn. That night the maiden again 
appeared to the young brave to know what form 
she should take and where she should live. Nu- 
merous places were suggested, but at last it was 



180 FLOWER LORE 

decided to leave it to the maiden to choose for her- 
self. At first she chose a white rose on the moun- 
tain, but no one could see her. Then she selected 
a prairie flower, but the hoof of the buffalo crushed 
her to earth. Then she passed into a honeysuckle 
on the cliff, but the children could not reach her. 
At last the star said : " I know where I will go. I 
will be safe and I can watch the canoes as they come 
and go, and the children can play with me." So 
saying, she dropped gently into the cool water of 
the lake, and the next morning thousands of white 
pond lilies were blooming there. The Indians called 
them wah-be-gwan-nee , meaning the white flower. 
Another account of the origin of these lilies comes 
from the Caranac tribe. It was summer. All the 
spring the young brave chief, Wayotah, or the blaz- 
ing sun, with his warriors had been away fighting 
with a neighboring tribe, but they had returned 
victorious to their camp on the shore of the lake 
of the reflected stars. There was wild feasting and 
revelry to welcome them home. Every one was 
joyous, save one, and she should have been the hap- 
piest of all, for in one week she was to be the bride 
of the victorious chief. Oseetah, which means the 
bird, or the sweet singer of the tribe, had vowed 
a vow, that no one knew of save the Great Spirit, 
and she was sad. Silently she withdrew from the 
throng, and slipping into her canoe paddled along 
the shore of the lake. But her lover had seen her, 
and, running to the shore, sprang into his canoe 



THE WATER LILY 181 

to follow. On they went, until beaching her canoe, 
she climbed up to the top of a high cliff. She 
called to her lover not to follow, but he either did 
not, or would not, understand. On he came climb- 
ing after her to find out what was the matter and 
to persuade her to go back with him. Perceiving 
that she could not stop him, Oseetah turned her face 
to the sky and leaped from the cliff into the lake 
below. The chief sprang in after her, and swam 
with giant strokes, searching everywhere for her, 
but in vain. She was not to be found, and after 
a while he went sadly back to his people. The 
feasting was changed into mourning, for the maiden 
was loved by all. 

The next day a stranger came to the Indian vil- 
lage, holding in his hand a new flower. No Indian 
had ever seen one like it, and much wonder was 
expressed. Their surprise was still greater when 
he told them in the lake of the reflected stars there 
were many more just like it. Hurriedly they went 
to see for themselves, and sure enough, there were 
hundreds of great, white water lilies floating on the 
water. While they were gazing a man appeared, 
dressed in flowing robes, and he told them that 
because Oseetah had been true to her vow the Great 
Spirit had given her a new form. The white petals 
were for her goodness, the yellow center for her 
faith, and the green leaves a symbol that she should 
live forever. Every morning she would open to 
the sun as he rose, and close when he sank be- 



1 82 FLOWER LORE 

neath the horizon in the evening. And so to the 
Indian the pond lily is the emblem of good faith.^ 

In Germany it is believed that the Undines, or 
water spirits, make their homes in the heart of the 
water lilies. As the night comes on the petals of 
the flowers close tightly, shutting them in, and then 
slowly sink down into the water to rise and open 
in all their beauty with the morning sun. There is 
a story of a German knight, who loved one of these 
beautiful nymphs and made her his wife. Soon 
after the marriage he wanted to take his lady out 
on the water in a boat. She begged him not to 
go, but he laughed at her fears. Tearfully she 
slipped into the boat with him. They had not gone 
far when hundreds of little hands dragged the boat 
and its occupants under the water. The next morn- 
ing two lilies, larger and more beautiful than the 
others, appeared near where the boat had gone 
down. 

The most wonderful variety of the water lily in 
the world is the Victoria regia. It was introduced 
into England from South America about 1850 and 
Professor Lindley, who has written an exhaustive 
monograph treating of it and its culture, has named 
it after England's great and good Queen. The 
blossoms are enormous, while the leaves sometimes 
measure nine feet across and can bear up a man. 
The plant is night blooming. The first evening that 
it opens the blossom is white and the odor is al- 
most oppressive. On the second day when it un- 



THE WATER LILY 183 

folds it is pink. This remarkable flower is grown 
in many public and private gardens in the United 
States. 

There has been almost as much attention paid 
in literature to the t water lily as to the rose and 
the violet. Under the name of the lotus, ancient 
authors wrote of its mystical qualities and religious 
symbolism, and in later days as an emblem of purity 
and beauty it has been a favorite with writers of 
both poetry and prose. Thoreau's chapter on 
# water lilies is cooling to the most fevered mind. 
Heine, Moore, Shelley, and Wordsworth have all 
paid their tribute to the mystic flower. A recent 
laureate of England chose it as an exquisite emblem 
of affection. 

Now folds the lily all her sweetness up 
And slips into the bosom of the lake ; 
So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip 
Into my bosom, and be lost in me. 

Tennyson, The Princess. 

Those virgin lilies all the night 
Bathing their beauties in the lake, 

That they may rise more fresh and bright, 
When their beloved sun's awake. 
Thomas Moore, Paradise and the Peri. 



THE POPPY 

CONSOLATION — OBLIVION 

Yonder poppies full of scorn, 
Proudly wave above the corn. 

Walter Thornbury. 

Bring poppies for the weary mind 
That saddens in a senseless din. 

William Winter. 

When Proserpina was carried away by Pluto, 
her mother, Ceres, who clothes the earth with ver- 
dure and protects the flowers and crops, despaired 
of ever seeing her again. Her grief was so great 
that she could neither sleep nor eat, and she be- 
sought Flora, the goddess of the flowers, to help 
her. As all vegetation was in a fair way to be 
destroyed, Flora appealed to Somnus, one of the 
gods, and with his aid created a flower which pos- 
sessed narcotic qualities. After partaking of a 
liquid distilled from the seed of this plant, Ceres 
fell into a deep sleep, during which all the plants, 
grasses, and flowers were refreshed. According to 
the traditions of the ancient Greeks this was the 
origin of the poppy. Ceres adopted the plant for 
her own, and poppy seeds were planted with the 

184 



THE POPPY 185 

corn and wheat to propitiate the goddess of agricul- 
ture and to prevent her from destroying the crops 
should she become angered. The red variety is 
called popaver rhceas and corn rose. Ceres is rep- 
resented by artists as crowned with poppies and 
bearded wheat. 

A poet once wrote: 

Visions aye are on us, 

Unto eyes of power; 
Pluto's always setting sun, 

And Proserpina's bower. 

According to an Indian legend, there lived on the 
banks of the Ganges an ancient dervish, who had 
a pet mouse of which he was so fond that he en- 
dowed it with the gift of speech. But a cat who 
lived in the vicinity kept the mouse in such a state 
of terror that the sage changed it into a dog. The 
animal was still discontented and was transformed 
to an ape, then to a boar, then to an elephant, and 
finally into a beautiful maiden, whom the dervish 
named Postomani or poppy-seed. One day, as she 
was in the garden, the King passed, and being at- 
tracted by her beauty later returned and insisted 
upon knowing her name and parentage. She told 
him that she was a Princess, who had been left in 
the care of the wise man when a child. The King 
was so much in love that he did not stop to ques- 
tion the truth of her story, and insisted upon being 
married at once by the dejvish, They lived hap- 



1 86 FLOWER LORE 

pily until one day she was standing by a well, and 
becoming dizzy fell in and was drowned. In order 
to reconcile the King to her loss, the dervish, tell- 
ing him that she was not of royal birth, but had 
been a mouse, a dog, an ape, and other animals, gave 
directions that the well should be filled up with earth 
without removing the body, and foretold that out 
of her grave a plant should grow, from which would 
be obtained a drug, and whoever should use this 
drug would be endowed with one quality of each 
of the animals into which she had been transformed. 
He should be mischievous like the mouse, savage 
like the dog, filthy like the ape, wild like the boar, 
and slow like the elephant. This is the effect of the 
drug to this day. 

The narcotic qualities of the plant were very early 
recognized by the ancients. Hypnos, the god of 
sleep, and Thanatos, the god of death, were both 
represented in art as holding poppies in their hands. 

A modern poet wrote: 

For happy hours the rose will blow. 
The poppy hath a charm for pain and woe. 

The youths and maidens of both Greece and Rome 
used its petals to test the sincerity of their loves. 
One was placed in the palm of the left hand, and if, 
upon being smartly struck with the right hand, it 
snapped with a sharp sound, the loved one was faith- 



THE POPPY 187 

ful. Otherwise, if it failed to make any noise. 
Theocritus alludes to this custom : 

By a prophetic poppy leaf, I found 

Your changed affection, for it gave no sound. 

The North American Indians have few legends 
associated with flowers, but the poppy is one of the 
exceptions. In very early times, before the white 
man had set his foot in the new world, there was a 
famine in the land. When winter came and the 
cold winds blew, all vegetation was frozen and the 
natives died by the hundreds, until there was left only 
the Chief Manona and his young squaw. Together 
they started out to find a place of refuge. Cross- 
ing the frozen rivers and climbing the snow-capped 
mountains they prayed all the time to the Great 
Spirit for help. At last they were heard. The wind 
ceased to blow, the ice and snow melted, and every- 
where there came forth bright red flowers, which 
brought warmth and plenty to the land. Thus the 
fire-flower is still dear to the heart of the Indian. 

In our land the poppy is chiefly an ornament, but 
in India, China, and Persia it is of great commer- 
cial value. The poppy fields of China are as famed 
as the wheat fields of the Dakotas. One writer 
says : " For five days we traveled through fields of 
poppies." It is being cultivated at the expense of 
rice, which is double the price it was ten years ago. 
In the middle of the nineteenth century the poppy was 
indirectly the cause of a war between England and 



1 88 FLOWER LORE 

China, known as the opium war, which was ter- 
minated in August, 1842, by the celebrated Nanking 
Treaty, and resulted in the opening of China, which 
before had been closed, to the people of the world. 
Medicinally it is used as a sedative and as an ano- 
dyne. The blossoms are red, white, yellow, and 
sometimes so purple that they are said to be black. 
There is a bee which is known as the upholsterer 
because it lines its nest with poppy petals. Perhaps 
this serves to keep the young bees quiet until they 
are old enough to fly. 

When the Archduke Maximilian and his beauti- 
ful wife, the unfortunate Carlotta, crossed the sea 
to establish an empire in Mexico, they wished to 
institute an order corresponding to the Legion of 
Honor in France and to that of the Garter in Eng- 
land. The Empress decided that the color of the 
ribbon should be bright red. Napoleon III ob- 
jected, as red was the color of the Legion, but Car- 
lotta, enclosing a poppy petal in a letter, wrote him 
that the order of Nature antedated the Legion of 
Honor, and that she should copy that. 

In colonial days the children were not permitted 
to play with toys on the Sabbath. But the little 
girls made dolls with red petticoats from the 
poppies. 

Perhaps this was a survival of a very old custom, 
as the name is derived from the French word 
poupee, which means doll or rag baby. 

Wreaths of poppies have long been popular. 



THE POPPY 189 

Ben Jonson refers to the use of horned poppies by 
witches. 

The oil which is made from the opium poppy is 
used for food and lighting purposes. Its color is 
golden. French soapmakers find it useful. 

California was the first state to adopt a flower 
emblem, and the popular choice fell upon the golden 
poppy, which was a most appropriate selection, as 
the flower grows wild in great profusion in all parts 
of the state. In 1849, when the rush for gold first 
began in the western Eldorado, the Indians believed 
that the leaves of the Great Spirit's flower, dropping 
year after year, sank into the earth and were 
changed into the yellow metal that the white man 
held so precious. The Spanish name of the golden 
poppy is copa de oro, meaning cup of gold, and one 
of the poets of California has written of it: 

Copa de oro, chalice of gold, 
Who fashioned thee so daintily; whose hand did hold 
The graver that chased thy rounded brim? 
Old Tubal Cain could strive in vain to equal him. 

The poppy is more of a favorite with modern 
writers than with the ancients. Perhaps this may 
be accounted for by the fact that in olden times the 
flower was associated with death. It is a frail 
blossom. Robert Burns refers to this: 

Pleasures are like poppies spread, 

You seize the flower, the bloom is shed. 



i go FLOWER LORE 

Shakespeare mentions it once when Iago, in 
Othello, refers to the narcotic properties of the 
plant. Keats makes numerous references to it, and 
Bayard Taylor has written rather sadly about it. 

We are slumbering poppies, 

Lords of Lethe downs, 
Some awake, and some asleep, 

Sleeping in our crowns. 
What perchance our dreams may know, 
Let our serious beauty show. 
Leigh Hunt, Songs and Chorus of the Flowers. 



THE IRIS 

A MESSAGE 

Oh flower-de-luce, bloom on, and let the river 

Linger to kiss thy feet ! 
Oh flower of song, bloom on, and make forever 

The world more fair and sweet! 

Longfellow, Flower-de-luce. 

In ancient myth, Iris, the sister of the harpies 
and goddess of the storm, was represented by the 
rainbow. She was as swift as the wind, had wings 
of gold, and was employed by Juno for her especial 
messenger, as Mercury was the messenger of Jup- 
iter. She carried messages unto the ends of the 
earth and even into the depths of the sea. By some 
of the Greek poets she is called a virgin goddess. 
One day the flowers all assembled at the invitation 
of Juno to celebrate the birthday of Iris. They all 
came in their prettiest dresses and were having a 
fine time when three new sister flowers were seen 
approaching, dressed in gowns of red, yellow, and 
purple, and wearing gorgeous jewels, but no one 
knew who they were. As they were without names, 
they were christened Iris, because they wore the 
colors of the rainbow, and thus it is that they bear 
the name of the messenger of the gods. There 

191 



i 9 2 FLOWER LORE 

are more than one hundred and seventy different 
varieties of the plant and they grow in almost every 
country on the earth. The blue flag is a native of 
the United States and the yellow of Europe and 
Asia. Many fossil varieties now unknown are 
found in the rocks. 

As one of the duties of Mercury was to conduct 
the souls of dead men to their final resting place, 
so Iris performed the same duty for the women. 
The Greeks used the purple variety to decorate the 
graves of the women. 

The Egyptians introduced the flower in their 
architecture. As the symbol of eloquence and 
power, it was placed upon the brow of the sphinx 
and upon the scepters of their rulers. In ancient 
Babylon and Assyria it was recognized as one of 
the symbols of royalty. It was also esteemed highly 
for medicinal purposes. The roots, which had many 
of the properties of honey, were used in the prepara- 
tion of forty-one different remedies. The plant at- 
tached to the body of an infant was supposed to 
correct all the disorders that arise from teething. 
A syrup made from the root was said to cure coughs 
and inflammation of the throat. Mixed with vine- 
gar, the essence was good for diseases of the liver. 
Applied externally, the plant was a cure for the bites 
of serpents and scorpions. A powder made from 
the root and mixed with honey was used as a splint 
for broken bones. Used dry it was beneficial in 
cases of scrofulous sores. The person gathering 



THE IRIS 193 

it must at the time name the patient and the dis- 
ease for which it was to be used. A Roman natu- 
ralist mentions a crime practiced by some herbalists. 
When they thought they had not been paid enough 
they kept a portion of it and by burying it in the 
same place, from which they obtained it, a recur- 
rence of the illness and consequent retention of 
their services were assured. An exquisite perfume 
was made from some varieties and it was in much 
demand among women of fashion. A perfumed 
oil, which was a valued addition to the toilet, was 
also obtained from it. 

The iris is the national flower of France, where 
it was first called Heur-de-lys. There are several 
legends in regard to its adoption. According to 
heraldic traditions, the ancient Franks, at a proc- 
lamation of the King, were accustomed to place in 
his hand a reed of the flag in blossom, and the 
later rulers are represented with their scepters orna- 
mented with the same flower. Another legend is 
traced to the sixth century. When Clotilda, the wife 
of Clovis, endeavored by prayers and good deeds to 
bring about the conversion of her warlike husband 
to Christianity, for a long time he resisted her ef- 
forts. At length, having led his army against the 
Huns and being in danger of defeat, he called for 
assistance upon the God whom his wife worshiped. 
The tide of battle turned. He won a complete vic- 
tory, and upon his return was baptized in the Chris- 
tian faith. The night after his baptism an angel 



194 FLOWER LORE 

appeared to a holy hermit who dwelt near the castle 
and gave him a beautiful blue shield emblazoned 
with three golden fleurs-de-lys, which he bade the 
hermit take to the Queen to give to her husband. 
The device of Clovis had heretofore been three black 
toads. The banner of Charlemagne is also said to 
have been blue decorated with golden fleurs-de-lys. 
A later tradition is that when Louis VII was 
about to start on his crusade to the Holy Land the 
white banner of the French Crusaders was found one 
morning covered with purple fleurs-de-lys. Louis 
regarded it as an evidence of the Divine approval, 
and adopted it as the emblem of France, and had it 
engraved upon his signet ring. The soldiers called 
the flower fleur-de-Louis, which later was contracted 
into fleur-de-luce, and still later into the present 
form, " fleur-de-lys." It was also incorporated into 
the arms of France and used in the decoration of 
the crown itself. Charles VI reduced the number 
of fleurs-de-lys used in emblazoning the French arms 
to three, supposedly in recognition of the Holy Trin- 
ity. Edward III claimed France as belonging to 
the English Crown and added the flower to the Eng- 
lish coat-of-arms. It took many bloody battles to 
make the English renounce this claim, but at last, 
in 1801, the flower disappeared from the English 
shield. During the French revolution the fleur-de- 
lys was proscribed, and any one wearing it or having 
it in his possession was put to death. Where it was 
conspicuous in decoration or sculpture it was de- 



THE IRIS 195 

stroyed by the frenzied mob. Upon the base of the 
statue of Jeanne d'Arc in Rouen are sculptured 
fleurs-de-lys, with this inscription: 

Beneath the maiden's sword, 
The lilies safely bloom. 

After 1789 the tri-color became the national em- 
blem. 

The Japanese, with their extravagant love for 
flowers, celebrate a flower festival every month. 
The fete of the iris, or hana-shoby, occurs in June. 
In contrast to the riotous carnival of the cherry 
blossom this event is a very dignified garden party. 
They have brought the flower to a perfection that 
the French never dreamed of. Purple, yellow, and 
white are the principal colors, and also some shades 
of blue. The most important display is at Horo- 
kiri, near Tokio, where the plants are arranged to 
produce a wonderful color effect. During the cele- 
bration the hot water in the public bathhouses is 
perfumed with iris root and the public conveyances 
are decorated with garlands of the flowers. It has 
long been the custom for the Japanese, on the fifth 
day of June, to hang bunches of sweet flag, which 
is a wild iris, under the eaves of their houses to 
warn off evil spirits and to prevent misfortune com- 
ing to their homes. Sometimes beds of it are 
planted on the thatched roofs of the cottages to ward 
off pestilence. This is accounted for because once 
there was a famine in Japan, and no one was allowed 



ig6 FLOWER LORE 

to plant anything in the ground that could not be 
used as food. The powdered root of the plant was 
applied by Japanese women as a cosmetic and as a 
powder to whiten their faces, so the little ladies all 
planted gardens of it on the roofs of their houses, 
and in many of the country places they are still 
there. 

They make it a custom to send flowers upon all 
occasions, and the iris is in great demand for events 
requiring congratulations, except at weddings, when 
it is undesirable on account of the purple color. 
Their literature has many references to the flower. 
One of their poets wrote : 

The iris grown between my house and the neighbors 
Is just burnishing in its deepest color and glory, 
I wish that some one would come and see it 
Before it withers away, and returns to the dust. 

The French poets have naturally made their na- 
tional flower a frequent theme for verse, and the 
earlier English writers have numerous references to 
it. Chaucer and Ben Jonson both seem to have been 
familiar with it. 

As the fleur-de-lys was an emblem of royalty, it 
came to be attributed to our Saviour. In a carol 
which is known to have been sung before 1526 the 
origin of the flower is thus told : 

For His love that bought us all dear, 
Listen, lordings, that be here, 
And I will tell you in fere 
Whereof came the fleur-de-lys. 



THE IRIS 197 

On Christmas night, when it was cold, 
Our Lady lay among beasts bold, 
And there she bare Jesu, Joseph told, 
And thereof came the fleur-de-lys. 
Sing we all for time it is; 
Mary hath borne the fleur-de-lys. 

" In fere " as thus used means " all together." 
Spenser includes it in his Shepherd's Calendar. 
Shakespeare often refers to it in his historical plays, 
while Milton numbers it with the flowers of Para- 
dise : 

Iris all hues, roses, and jassamin, 

Reared high their heads and wrought mosaic. 

It grows in wet or damp soil. Shelley refers to 
this when he says : 

And nearer to the river's trembling edge 
There grew broad flag flowers, purple prankt with 
white. 

As a religious symbol the iris is sacred to the 
Virgin Mary. There was once a knight who was 
not learned, but who was most devout. He never 
could remember more than two words of the Latin 
prayer to the Holy Mother. These words were Ave 
Maria, and he repeated them over and over, night 
and day, until at last he died and was buried in the 
chapel-yard of a convent near which he lived. After 
a while a strange flower grew on his grave, a fleur- 
de-lys, which bore on every blossom in golden letters 
the words Ave Maria. The monks, who had held 



ig8 FLOWER LORE 

him in contempt during his life, because of his igno- 
rance, opened the grave and were surprised to find 
the root of the plant resting on the lips of the holy- 
knight, whose body lay in the grave. 

It blooms in May and June, 
O'er her tall blades 

The crested fleur-de-lys, 
Like blue-eyed Pallas, 

Towers erect and free. 

Holmes, Spring. 



THE THISTLE 

AUSTERITY — INDEPENDENCE — RETALIATION 

The rose may bloom for England ; 

The lily for France unfold ; 
Ireland may have her shamrock; 

Scotland has the thistle bold. 

Edna Dean Proctor. 

Proud thistle, emblem dear to Scotland's sons, 
Begirt with threatening points, strong in defense, 
Unwilling to assault. 

The thistle of Scotland is said to be the oldest 
national flower on record, and tradition traces its 
adoption to the reign of Alexander III and the bat- 
tle of Largs. In the year 1263 there was war be- 
tween the Danes and the Scots, and the army of 
the ^northmen under King Haakon succeeded in 
landing unobserved on the coast of Scotland near 
the mouth of the Clyde, not far from where Alex- 
ander's army was encamped. The Danes regarded 
it as contrary to the ethics of warfare to attack an 
enemy at night, but on this occasion the temptation 
was too great and they deviated from their rule. 
They crept stealthily toward the Scottish camp and 
almost accomplished their purpose. Victory seemed 
within their grasp, when one of the barefooted sol- 

199 



200 FLOWER LORE 

diers trod upon a thistle. Its prickles caused him to 
utter a sharp cry of pain and the alarm was given. 
The Scotch warriors seized their weapons and pro- 
ceeded to drive the invaders from their shore with 
great slaughter. Since that time, it is stated, the 
thistle has been the national emblem of Scotland. ) 

Another account of its adoption is of a very dif- 
ferent character. About the middle of the fifteenth 
century a company of stern-faced, bearded men met 
in the old council chamber at Edinburgh, and the 
occasion of that meeting was to discuss the ad- 
visability of substituting the thistle for the figure 
of St. Andrew on their national banner. f The pro- 
ceedings of the council were secret, but soon after 
the thistle appeared upon every Scottish banner. 
The national motto might have been adopted with 
equal appropriateness on either of these occasions : 
" Nemo me impune lacessit." The polite reading 
of this is, " No man attacks me without being pun- 
ished/' but the more simple translation of earlier 
days was, " Touch me who dares ! " while the orig- 
inal motto is supposed to have been, " Wha dare 
meddle wi' me? " Another inscription which some- 
times accompanies the Scottish emblem reads : " Ce 
que Dieu garde, est bien garde "; " That which God 
guards is well guarded." 

The thistle appeared officially for the first time 
during the reign of James II, who had it placed 
upon the coinage of the kingdom and adopted it 
as his personal badge. It also appeared upon the 



THE THISTLE 201 

coins of the reign of James IV, Mary Stuart, 
Jarnes V, and James VI. 

The thistle merke was a silver shilling. The 
thistle dollar was a double merke. The thistle crown 
was a gold dollar. .Each took its name from the 
emblem on it. 

The Most Ancient Order of the Thistle, which 
the Scots claim antedates the Order of the Garter, 
was founded by James V of Scotland. It con- 
sisted of the sovereign and twelve knights in mem- 
ory of our Lord and the Apostles. It has for its 
insignia the blossom and leaves of a thistle in gold, 
together with the national motto. During the reign 
of Queen Anne it pleased her to bestow upon the 
great Scotchman, the Duke of Hamilton, the Order 
of the Garter. The nobleman refused it unless he 
should also be allowed to wear the Order of the 
Thistle, saying that he would never lay down the 
thistle to make way for the rose, and reminding her 
that Her Majesty's father, James II of England, had 
bestowed the Scottish honor upon him. The Queen 
not only permitted him to wear both orders, but 
from that time wore them herself. The number 
in the order had then dwindled to eight, but she 
restored it to twelve. The coat-of-arms of the na- 
tional bank of Scotland, granted in 1826, bears a 
figure of St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, 
carrying his cross before him, surrounded by a 
border of thistles. 

The first allusion to it as the Scottish emblem is 



202 FLOWER LORE 

by Dunbar in his poem, The Thistle and the Rois, 
written in 1501 on the marriage of James IV to 
Margaret Tudor. Since then the poets of Scot- 
land have always been ready to pay it homage and 
those of other countries generally have not ventured 
to do otherwise. 

James Hogg wrote : 

Up wi' the flowers o' Scotland, 

The emblem o' the free ; 
Their guardians for a thousand years 

Their guardians still we'll be. 
A foe had better brave the de'il 

Within his reeky cell, 
Than our thistle's purple bonnet 

Or our bonny heather bell. 

There has been some controversy as to which 
variety of the plant was originally selected as the 
Scottish emblem, but the common cotton thistle, with 
its purple flower, is generally accepted as the true 
one. 

The family is large and widely diversified. The 
blossoms are purple, yellow, and white. In France, 
Germany, and Spain there grows a variety known 
as the carline thistle. It is very large and the 
country folk hang it outside their cottage doors 
as a barometer. Before a rain the blossom in- 
variably closes, and when the storm is nearly over 
it gradually opens. It derived its name from its 
association with Charlemagne. On one occasion, 
as the story is told, when the Emperor was engaged 



THE THISTLE 203 

in war a plague broke out among his soldiers, many 
of whom died. He prayed to God for help and that 
night an angel appeared to him and shot an arrow 
from a cross-bow, telling him that on the spot where 
the arrow fell he would find a plant, the root of 
which was the best antidote for the disease. The 
Emperor followed the direction indicated and found 
a large thistle with an arrow fastened in its branches. 
The instructions thus received resulted most success- 
fully. 

In Tartary there is a species which grows so large 
that the natives build their huts in its shade. As 
autumn approaches the stem decays and the blos- 
som dries into a feather-ball, which is driven over 
the plains by the wind. It is called the wind- 
witch, and it is said that no one has ever been known 
to catch one; but this is not true of the Canada 
thistle, which resembles it. 

Still another variety is Our Lady's thistle. It 
is so called on account of the white spots on the 
leaves. The legend is that one day the Blessed 
Virgin sat down in the field to nurse the Child 
Jesus and some of the milk fell upon a thistle grow- 
ing near by, causing the leaves to assume their 
peculiar coloring. 

Mary, Queen of Scots, hoped to make it the 
thistle of Scotland and caused it to be planted on 
the cliffs surrounding the castle of Dumbarton. 

The plant has several medicinal properties. It 
is claimed that when gathered before it blossoms 



204 FLOWER LORE 

and the leaves and stem are bruised, the juice ap- 
plied to the scalp will make the hair grow. Mixed 
with vinegar, it was used to heal leprous sores. 
It was also said to be a remedy for disorders of the 
stomach. The roots were boiled and used for food. 
Pliny, commenting upon this, said : " No four-footed 
animal save the ass will eat it." Finches, however, 
feed upon the blossoms and the seeds. Marlowe and 
Chapman in Hero and Leander, speak of this : 

Two sweet birds surnamed th ? acanthides, 

Which we call thistle warps, that near no seas 

Dare ever come, but still in couples fly, 

And feed on thistle tops to testify 

The hardness of their first life in the last. 

It had a place among the mystical plants, as sacred 
to Thor. Carried about the person it was said to 
protect the bearer from all evil and especially light- 
ning. In some places thistles were placed on the first 
corn that ripened to drive away evil spirits from the 
fields. In England there was an old superstition 
that if a maiden wished to find out which of sev- 
eral suitors loved her the best she must take the 
heads of thistles, cut off their points, give each 
flower the name of a person, and put them under 
her pillow. The one that put forth a new sprout 
loved her the best. It was a lucky omen to dream 
of being surrounded by thistles. The dreamer 
in a short time was sure to hear some good 
news. 



THE THISTLE 205 

There is an old saying that first loves float from 
the memory like thistledown in a breeze. 

In a wild, barren spot near Mecklenburg, where 
a murder was once committed, there grew a strangely 
form^a variety. Every day at noon it appeared 
with what looked like human arms, hands, and 
head. Daily a new head was produced until twelve 
different ones had appeared, when the plant mys- 
teriously disappeared and a new one came in its 
place. Every one avoided the spot. One day a 
shepherd declared that he was not afraid, and 
taking his staff started to pass the weird plant. The 
staff immediately turned to tinder and both his 
arms were paralyzed. This story is told by 
Mannhardt, the German mythologist, who died in 
1880. 

The thistle is not a popular plant outside of Scot- 
land, and farmers all over the world hold it in 
great disfavor on account of the rapidity with which 
it spreads and the difficulty in uprooting. It is 
really a weed and grows in poor soil. The earliest 
mention of it in literature is in Genesis, chapter 
iii, verse 18, where it is made a part of the primal 
curse. There are eight succeeding references to 
it in the Scriptures, in each of which it is men- 
tioned as something to be deplored. Cowper, in the 
Task, said: 

The land once lean 

Or fertile only in its own disgrace 

Exults to see its thistly curse repealed. 



206 FLOWER LORE 

Modern references, aside from agricultural works, 
emphasize its more admirable qualities. 

A thistle grew in a sluggish croft, 

Rough and rank with a thorny growth, 

With its spotted leaves and its purple flower, 

(Blossoms of sin, blooms of sloth), 

Slowly it ripened its baneful seeds, 

And away they scattered in swift gray showers, 

But every seed was cobweb winged, 

And they spread o'er a hundred miles of land ; 

Tis centuries now since they first took flight, 

In that careless, gay, and mischievous band, 

Yet still they are blooming and ripening fast 

And spreading their evil by day and night. 

Anon, The Lie. 



THE COLUMBINE 

DESERTION — INCONSTANCY 

" Skirting the rocks at the forest edge 
With a running flame from ledge to ledge, 
Or swaying deeper in shadowy glooms, 
A smouldering fire in her dusky blooms ; 
Bronzed and molded by wind and sun, 
Maddening, gladdening every one 
With gipsy beauty full and fine, 
A health to the crimson columbine ! " 

The columbine belongs to the crowfoot family, 
and is one of about thirty varieties scattered 
throughout North America and Great Britain. It 
flourishes in July and August. The generic name 
of the flower is aquilegia, about the derivation of 
which there has been much discussion, some assert- 
ing that it is from the Latin meaning the eagle, and 
that it was given to the plant on account of the 
spurs on the blossom that are bent somewhat like the 
talons of that lordly bird. Others insist that it is 
from the words aqua, which means water, and ligo, 
meaning to collect, because the petals of the blossom 
are funnel-shaped, as if intended to hold water. 
This intention, however, is frustrated by the posi- 
tion of the flowers, as they hang mouth downward. 

The European blossom is not as graceful as its 
207 



208 FLOWER LORE 

American sisters, being shorter and stouter; nor is 
it as brilliant in qolor. Another name which was 
once used was culverwort, which means dove-plant, 
and it was so called because after removing the 
outer petals those remaining resembled a cluster of 
doves eating from the same dish. The word col- 
umbine comes from the Latin columba, which 
means a dove. It used to be applied to persons 
of a dove-like nature. The flower was sometimes 
known as " herb of the lion," from the belief that 
it was the favorite of the king of beasts. The name 
was dear to the children of a generation ago through 
its association with the Christmas pantomime, which 
was an elaborate feature of the English holiday sea- 
son, and was brought to this country occasionally 
by some enterprising manager. 

The play was adapted from an old fairy tale. 
There was a cross old guardian, whose beautiful 
ward had two lovers, one a fine, handsome young 
man whom she preferred, the other a rakish old fop 
whose wealth had attracted her guardian. A med- 
dlesome servant made all sorts of trouble for the 
young people, and just at the moment when the 
young girl was about to be married to the suitor 
whom she despised a good fairy appeared and 
changed everything and everybody. The young girl 
was transformed into a wonderful creature called 
Columbine, and the young lover into Harlequin ; the 
old curmudgeon into Pantaloon, and the mischievous 
servant into a clown. Columbine and Harlequin 



THE COLUMBINE 209 

had a most exciting time trying to escape from their 
pursuers. Finally the good fairy appeared again 
and straightened everything. The aged suitor dis- 
appeared, the guardian gave his blessing, and the 
lovers skipped happily through life. 
Jones Very wrote: 

The morning's blush, she made it thine. 

The morn's sweet breath, she gave it thee. 
And in thy look, my Columbine, 

Each fond-remembered spot she bade me see. 

Not only in fairy-lore, but also in heraldry the 
blossom has played an important part. During the 
reign of Henry IV it was combined with the red 
rose as a badge of the royal house of Lancaster, 
and long before that it had appeared in company 
with the historic broom-flower, on the official arms 
of the Plantagenets. In Latin the broom was planta 
genista and in French plante-genet. From this that 
great family name was derived. 

In a bill presented by a painter in connection with 
the funeral ceremonies of Baron Grey of Vitten is 
found this item, " His creste, a bunch of collobyns, 
blue, with stalk vert." The arms of Cadman bore 
a spray of the blue columbine, and it appeared also 
on the shield of a coat-of-arms granted to a Bo- 
hemian knight in 1701. Examples of early design 
show that both the flower and the leaf were favorite 
motives in decoration. It is found employed as a 
border upon an illuminated manuscript as early as 



210 FLOWER LORE 

the fifteenth century. William Morris used it re- 
peatedly as a leading feature of his wonderful de- 
signs, but he says, " Choose the old single columbine 
where the doves are unmistakable and distinct." 
American artists are just beginning to appreciate its 
decorative possibilities. Recently it came promi- 
nently to the foreground. The rumor that a me- 
morial was about to be presented to Congress ask- 
ing that the mountain laurel be recognized as our 
national floral emblem started a controversy for 
floral supremacy beside which the Wars of the Roses 
bade fair to dwindle into insignificance. At the 
time of the Columbian Exposition in Chicago the 
National Floral Emblem Society of America was 
organized. Its object was to obtain a genuine ex- 
pression of the will of the people which might lead 
to the adoption of a national flower. Committees 
were appointed in different parts of the country, and 
as a result of this activity a National Flower Con- 
vention was called by Governor Cross of North 
Carolina to be held at Asheville, in October, 1896, 
for the purpose of recommending a suitable flower 
to Congress for adoption as the official emblem. 
Delegates appointed by the Governors of their re- 
spective states, including many experts in botany 
and horticulture, as well as literature and art, met 
at the appointed time, and the merits and demerits 
of the different floral candidates were thoroughly 
discussed. No decision, however, was reached. 
Among the flowers presented for consideration were 



THE COLUMBINE 211 

the mountain laurel, the arbutus, the goldenrod, 
the dandelion, and the columbine. The latter flower 
had staunch advocates in the members of the Col- 
umbine Association, which was organized in Boston 
about fifteen years ago, and of which Mr. Frederick 
Le Roy Sargent, instructor in botany at the Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin, was chosen president. The 
movement to memorialize Congress on behalf of the 
mountain laurel aroused the members of this asso- 
ciation to great activity. Numerous reasons were 
advanced in favor of the columbine. It is a native 
of nearly every state. The name has the same der- 
ivation as Columbus, the discoverer, and as Colum- 
bia, which many persons used to think should have 
been our national name. It displays the national 
colors. In the South and the Rocky Mountains 
it is blue, in some parts of the North, white, and 
in the Middle West, red with a yellow interior. Thus 
it is emblematical of the blood and wealth which 
have been poured out in the development of this great 
country. It has decorative possibilities surpassed 
by no other flower. Ruskin, in his Elements of 
Drawing, chose its leaf as a happy illustration of 
the beauty of a well-ordered subordination of parts. 
He demonstrated that each leaf is composed of thir- 
teen lobes, with each lobe perfect and independent, 
but each yielding something of its own dignity to 
the formation of the harmonious whole, represents 
most aptly the motto, e pluribus unum, and is sugges- 
tive of the thirteen original states, as they are rep- 



212 FLOWER LORE 

resented by the stripes upon our national flag. The 
fancied resemblance of its five long spurs to horns 
of plenty and of parts of the blossom to the dove, the 
emblem of peace, and to the eagle, the emblem of 
fearlessness, tends to make it a floral device that 
would compare favorably with those of other great 
nations. Colorado, by act of the legislature, has 
adopted it as her state flower. 

In olden times it was regarded as typical of in- 
fidelity, and like the willow, it was the emblem of 
a deserted lover. Sir Thomas Browne, in the seven- 
teenth century, wrote : 

The columbine by lonely wanderer taken, 
Is there ascribed to such as are forsaken. 

In an old play, written- by Chapman in 1600, it 
is referred to as a symbol of ingratitude. " What's 
that, a columbine?" "No, that thankless flower 
grows not in my garden." 

Shakespeare also uses it as symbolical of ingrati- 
tude. Other English poets have referred to it as 
representing sorrow or desolation, but our Amer- 
ican poets have shown a more cheerful appreciation 
of its charms, and tributes of affection and admira- 
tion have come from many of our foremost writers. 

A woodland walk, 

A quest of river grapes, a mocking thrush, 
A wild rose or a rock-loving columbine 
Salve my worst wounds. 

Emerson. 



THE GOLDENROD 

PRECAUTION — EN COUR AGEM ENT 

I lie among the goldenrod, 
I love to see it lean and nod ; 
I love to feel the grassy sod 
Whose kindly breast will hold me last, 
Whose patient arms will fold me fast ! 
Fold me from sunshine and from song, 
Fold me from sorrow and from wrong, 
Through gleaming gates of goldenrod 
I'll pass into the rest of God. 

Mary Clemmer Ames. 

Because its sun-shaped blossoms show 
How souls receive the light of God, 

And unto earth give back that glow, 
I thank Him for the goldenrod. 

Lucy Larcom. 

Some years ago, when the subject of a national 
flower was under consideration, Louis Prang, of 
Boston, the artist, published a pamphlet setting forth 
the respective merits of the goldenrod and the ar- 
butus as competitives for the place of honor. He 
asked for an expression of opinion from the public, 
and the response was overwhelmingly in favor of 
the goldenrod. It is without doubt the most repre- 
sentative wild flower in America and is a native of 

213 



2i 4 FLOWER LORE 

almost every state in the Union. There are one 
hundred varieties, ninety-five of which are natives 
of North America. The scientific name of the plant 
is solidago, from solidus and ago, meaning " to 
make solid," or to draw together, which adds to its 
appropriateness as an emblem of our great republic. 
In five states, Alabama, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, 
and Pennsylvania, it has been chosen for the state 
flower. Only two or three varieties grow wild in 
Europe. One that is quite common in Great Britain 
is a tall, straight variety called clamis rod. It was 
formerly known as wound weed on account of its 
healing properties. A sixteenth century botanist 
writes that it was dried and in that condition brought 
from abroad and sold by the herb women in the 
market in Queen Elizabeth's time. It was in great 
demand for dressing wounds and cuts, and sold for 
as much as half a crown an ounce, until the plant 
was discovered growing wild near certain ponds in 
Hampstead. Then being native, it became valueless. 
" This," says the old botanist, " varifieth our Eng- 
lish proverb, ' Far fetcht and deare bought is best 
for ladies.' " Fradslim classes the goldenrod 
among the plants used by the Druids as divining 
rods. In skilled hands the plant is credited with 
being able to point out springs of fresh water, 
as well as hidden treasures of gold and 
silver. 

In New Zealand and St. Helena the flower is 
known as yellow weed and one variety grows to 



THE GOLDENROD 215 

be more than eight feet high, with branches like a 
tree. In medicine it is used to relieve nausea and 
spasmodic pains. The cattle avoid it on account 
of it's astringency. Beverage made from it was 
called blue mountain tea. At one time it produced 
oils and dyes. While, like most Americans, it can 
name an ancestry that had its origin in an older 
country, it is distinctly American. It holds no place 
in the mythology of the ancients and its associations 
are almost all with the new world. 

As the daisy and buttercup are so closely asso- 
ciated that one hardly can think of one without the 
other, so the goldenrod and the aster are almost 
inseparable, not only in fact, but also in legend and 
tradition. 

In a queer little hut, on the edge of a pine forest 
and beside a clear lake, lived an old Indian squaw. 
She had lived there so long that no one knew when 
she came, and all sorts of queer tales were told 
about her by the few people who approached her 
abode. It was said that she had the power of 
changing human beings into animals, birds, or 
plants, and that she could talk to all things that lived 
in the forest in their own language. She was so 
old that she was bent almost double. Her face was 
wrinkled, but her eyes were bright and seemed to 
see things. She sat all day in the door of her hut 
weaving mats and baskets, but no one ever knew 
what she did with them. One day late in the sum- 
mer two children were seen wandering along the 



216 FLOWER LORE 

shore of the lake. They skipped from stone to 
stone, and gathered the flowers that grew almost 
to the water's edge. At last they sat down to rest. 
One of them had beautiful golden hair, and her com- 
panion, who had soft, deep-blue eyes that looked 
like stars, called her Golden-hair. They had heard 
of the squaw and her magical powers, and as they 
sat by the lake they talked of what they would 
choose to be, if she should try her spells upon them. 
Golden-hair wished to be something that would make 
every one who saw it happy and cheerful, while 
timid little Star-eye wished that she might be near 
her friend. At last the sun began to sink in the 
west. The wind stirred among the tree-tops and 
every now and then the acorns fell with a noise like 
raindrops, and the little girls began to get fright- 
ened. They saw the hut in the distance and hold- 
ing each other's hands they ran toward it. As 
they drew near the old woman worked faster than 
ever and pretended that she did not see them. The 
children came quite close to her and Golden-hair 
said : " Please, can you tell me where the old woman 
lives who can make us whatever we wish to be? " 
The Indian, looking up, said : " Perhaps I can. 
What do you want of her?" "I want," said the 
child, " to ask her to make me into something that 
will please everybody, and Star-eye wants to be al- 
ways near to me." " Come in," said the squaw, 
" and sit down. I will give you each a cake made 
of Indian corn, and when you have eaten it we will 



THE GOLDENROD 217 

talk about your wishes." The little girls were half 
afraid, but did not like to decline, so they went into 
the hut and sat down to eat their cake. That was 
a long time ago, and no one has ever seen those 
children since, but the next morning there were two 
new field flowers blossoming in the fields, on the 
prairies, and on the mountain sides; one was like a 
bright yellow plume that waved in the wind and 
glowed like gold in the sunshine, and the other was 
a little starry, purple flower. The two are never 
very far apart and they are called goldenrod and 
aster. Mindful, perhaps, of this, Bryant wrote: 

But on the hill the goldenrod, and the aster in the 

wood, 
And the yellow sunflower by the brook, in autumn 

beauty stood. 

Both in legendary lore and in literature tributes 
to the goldenrod are confined almost entirely to 
American writers, but it lacks not for eulogy. 
Every time the national flower discussion is renewed 
much is written, both of prose and poetry, in ap- 
preciation of its beauty, and the great among us 
have not deemed it unworthy of their best efforts. 
Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, and Bayard Taylor 
have all helped to swell the chorus of love and 
praise of the flower. Celia Thaxter, Elaine Good- 
ale, Lucy Larcom, and Helen Hunt Jackson have 
added their words of affection. One who has laid 
down his pen, and of whom it has been said that he 



218 FLOWER LORE 

was our " unofficial poet laureate," has told that it 
is at its best in August and September. 

Grows a weed 
More richly here beside our mellow seas 
That is the autumn's harbinger and pride, 
When fades the cardinal flower, whose red heart bloom 
Glows like a living coal upon the green 
Of the midsummer meadows, then how bright, 
How deepening bright like mounting flame doth burn, 
The goldenrod upon a thousand hills ! 
This is the autumn's flower, and to my soul 
A token fresh of beauty and of life, 
And life's supreme delight. 

Richard Watson Gilder, 

An Autumn Meditation. 






THE GENTIAN 

CLOSED/ SWEET DREAMS 
FRINGED, I LOOK TO HEAVEN 

Beside the brook, on the umbered meadow, 

Where yellow fern-tufts fleck the faded ground, 

With folded lids beneath the palmy shadow 
The gentian nods in dewy slumbers bound. 

Upon those soft-fringed lids the bee sits brooding, 
Like a fond lover, loth to say farewell, 

Or with shut wings through silken folds intruding, 
Creeps near the heart his drowsy tale to tell. 

Sarah H. Whitman. 

There was a King of Ulyria named Gentius who 
reigned at the same time that Perseus was King 
of Macedonia. Being of a cruel and tyrannical na- 
ture, and much given to self-indulgence, he made 
no attempt to control the piratical attacks which his 
subjects made from time to time upon the Romans, 
and when ambassadors were sent from Rome to 
remonstrate with him he put them in prison. Upon 
war being declared between Rome and Macedonia, 
he offered his services to Perseus for a sum of 
money. The latter agreed to his terms, but after- 
ward, when the war was actually begun, refused 
to keep the contract. Gentius assembled his forces, 

219 



220 FLOWER LORE 

but the war was terminated in less than thirty days 
by the victorious Romans, and the King and his 
family were taken prisoners and carried to Rome 
to grace the triumph of Amicius, the general. 

Gentius was a student of botany and he is re- 
ported to have been the first to discover the me- 
dicinal qualities of the plant which bears his name 
and which grew most luxuriantly in his kingdom. 
At that time there were thirteen remedies that were 
credited to it. It was said to be an antidote for 
poison, for the bites of mad dogs and of venomous 
reptiles, and was regarded as most efficacious 
for diseases of the liver. A wine in which the 
leaves had been steeped was considered very refresh- 
ing for persons over-wearied or chilled by exposure. 
Although this was centuries ago, to-day it still holds 
an important place in pharmacy. The root is very 
bitter and is used for the purposes of a tonic. 

A story is told of the curative powers of the plant, 
which dates from the eleventh century. During the 
reign of Ladislas, surnamed the saint, the whole of 
Hungary was devastated by a terrible plague. Hav- 
ing heard the story of Charlemagne and the thistle, 
the good King prayed that when he discharged an 
arrow into the air it might be guided to some plant 
that could be successfully used to check the devastat- 
ing disease. He shot the arrow and it was found 
piercing a gentian root. The remedy was at once 
tried and the results were astonishingly successful. 
- The fringed gentian is one of the most beautiful 



THE GENTIAN 221 

wild flowers that grows. There is a yellow variety, 
but generally the color is of a most dazzling blue. 
Thoreau says : " It surpasses the back of the male 
bluebird.'' Artists have regarded it as the nearest 
approach to the color of the sky. Spirit blue is 
made from coal tar, but it is often improperly called 
gentian blue. / 

There are one hundred and eighty different 
species, the most beautiful, according to recent au- 
thorities, being native in the United States. It 
blooms in the autumn and is about the last of the 
wild flowers: Thoreau records having found one 
as late as November, although they are in their prime 
from the middle to the last of September. The 
fringed gentian has been a rival of the arbutus and 
the goldenrod for the honor of being our national 
flower and it has had many supporters. Hosmer 
speaks of its modesty: 

The varied aster tribes enclose 

Bright eyes in autumn's smoky bower, 

And azure cup the gentian shows, 
A modest little flower. 

It is the state flower of Wyoming. It grows in 
profusion among the Alps of Switzerland and the 
following story was told by the much-loved Dean 
Stanley. When traveling in Switzerland in 18 18 
he arrived at the village of Martigny a few days 
after the terrible catastrophe which was occasioned 
that year by the overflowing of the Danube. His 



222 FLOWER LORE 

curiosity being excited, he determined to climb the 
mountain and learn by personal observation the 
extent of the calamity. It was represented to him 
that the road was passable for horses, but upon 
reaching a certain ford it was found that the 
water had risen so that passage was impossible. 
"Is there no other way?" he inquired of the 
guides. He was told that there was one other 
way, but that it took steady nerves and a strong 
head, " for if you slip you are lost," they said. 
He signified his willingness to try it, and it was 
not until it was too late to retreat that he realized 
the danger of the undertaking. He wrote that, 
while creeping slowly along a narrow ledge of 
rock, where the least misstep would have sent him 
headlong into the valley below, just as he was strug- 
gling with an almost irresistible impulse to look 
down, which would have been his undoing, he espied, 
growing out of the rocks above him, a cluster of 
beautiful blue gentians. While looking up at them 
he seemed to forget his danger ; his nerves steadied 
themselves, and he passed over the perilous crossing 
safely. Always after that it was a flower dear to 
his heart. 

Besides the fringed gentian there is a variety 
known as the closed, or bottle, gentian. The blos- 
soms are shaped like the thick part of a tiny Indian 
club and a number, generally five or six, are gath- 
ered together at the narrow neck of the club and 
rise from the green cushion like a beautiful rosette. 



THE GENTIAN 223 

These blossoms never open, and it is said that at 
one time all gentians were closed, but the fringed 
gentian is accounted for in this way: Once upon a 
time the Queen of the Fairies was out very late. It 
was Allhallows eve, t which is the last day in October, 
and she had been so busy that she had not realized 
how fast the time had flown. It was after mid- 
night and the moon, upon which the fairies depend 
for light, had sunk down out of sight. The fire- 
flies had gone to bed. The little Queen was fright- 
ened almost to death and, hurrying up to a gentian, 
she asked if she might sleep in its blossom until 
morning. The flower was sleepy and did not like 
being wakened, so it asked rather crossly, " Who 
are you? " " I am the Queen of the Fairies," was 
the answer. " Well, if you are the Queen, you 
ought to be able to find places enough to sleep," 
said the selfish blossom, and went to sleep again. 
The fairy looked all around and saw nothing but 
gentians. It was very late in the season and all the 
other flowers had gone. She thought she would 
try one more, and going up to another, she timidly 
asked for shelter for the night. " Poor little 
thing," it said, " come in and let me cover you up 
till the sun comes out." The tired Queen crept in 
and slept soundly until morning. As soon as the 
sun was up she hastened away, but before she left 
she said to the kind flower, " You are my dear friend 
and from this time you and all your children shall 
be different from the other gentians. I will bestow 



224 FLOWER LORE 

upon you the power to open and enjoy the beams 
of the sun and the refreshing dew." Then she 
kissed the flower — fairies do not know anything 
about germs — and ever since then the fringed gen- 
tian opens with the morning light and closes as night 
comes on. 

The gentian has not attracted much attention 
from the English poets. Wordsworth and Mont- 
gomery both allude to its wonderful coloring. 
However, it is firmly rooted in American literature 
and many tributes have been paid to the unique 
beauty of both varieties. 

Thou blossom bright with autumn dew, 
And colored with the heaven's own blue, 
That openest when the quiet light 
Succeeds the keen and frosty night. 

Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye 
Look through its fringes to the sky, 
Blue — blue — as if that sky let fall 
A flower from its cerulean wall. 

I would that thus, when I shall see 
The hour of death draw near to me, 
Hope, blossoming within my heart, 
May look to heaven as I depart. 

Bryant. Ode to a Fringed Gentian. 



THE CHRYSANTHEMUM 

WEALTH — ABUNDANCE 

Fair gift of friendship ! and her ever bright 

And faultless image ! welcome now thou art, 
In thy pure loveliness — thy robes of white, 

Speaking a moral to the feeling heart ; 
Unscathed by heats — by wintry blasts unmoved — 
Thy strength thus tested — and thy charms improved. 
Anna Peyre Dinnies, 
To a White Chrysanthemum. 

In the second month the peach tree blooms, 
But not till the ninth the chrysanthemums ; 
So each must wait till his own time comes. 

Translation from Japanese. 

Of all flowers the chrysanthemum may justly be 
called the queen of autumn, and it is difficult to 
believe that this royal blossom is own cousin to 
the modest little daisy that blooms so unobtrusively 
by the roadside. As it is known to-day, it is the 
product, not of nature, but of art, and it has been 
brought to its present state of perfection mainly 
by the efforts of the florists of China and Japan. It 
is a native of China. Originally it was yellow and 
the other colors which make it so showy and pop- 
ular have come from cultivation. The name is de- 

225 



226 FLOWER LORE 

rived from two Greek words, which mean golden 
flower. Its month is October. 

An old Chinese chronicle of the eleventh century 
tells of a plant which produced both large and small 
blossoms. Some had yellow centers, from which 
radiated white petals, while others were wholly yel- 
low. Confucius mentions it in his Li-ki, but any 
information that can be gathered is fragmentary 
and incomplete. It is tiie national floral emblem 
of Japan, although some writers contend that the 
place of honor should belong to the cherry blossom. 
The following legend of the origin of the flower is 
found in Japanese folk-lore : 

One beautiful moonlight night a young girl, wan- 
dering in a garden, gathered a blossom and began 
to pull off the petals one by one to see whether her 
lover cared for her or not. Suddenly a little elf 
stood before her, and after assuring her that she was 
passionately adored, he added : " Your love will 
become your husband, and will live as many years 
as the flower, which you may choose, has petals." 
He then disappeared, and the maiden began her 
search for a flower which should have the greatest 
number of petals. At length she picked a Persian 
carnation, and with a gold hairpin she separated 
each petal into two or three parts. Soon her deft 
fingers had increased the number of folioles of the 
corolla to three times the original number, and she 
wept with joy to think of the happiness she had 
been the means of assuring her future husband. 



THE CHRYSANTHEMUM 227 

And so the Ki-Ku, as the Japanese call it, was cre- 
ated hundreds of years ago in a garden, with the 
moon shining over the flowers, the streams, and the 
little bamboo bridges. 

The Kiku-no-sekku, or festival of the chrysanthe- 
mum, is held during the ninth month, which, ac- 
cording to the old calendar, is about the last of 
October, and as the birthday of the Emperor fell 
upon the third of November, that day has become 
a gala day in all parts of the empire and the occa- 
sion of wonderful floral displays. At Dango Zaka, 
one of the suburbs of Tokio, is held a most unique 
exhibition. Under canopies of matting and some- 
times on revolving stages, are arranged life-size fig- 
ures made entirely of chrysanthemums, with the ex- 
ception of the face and hands, which are formed of 
some sort of composition. The figures are grouped 
as tableaux representing historical or legendary 
scenes. They are most curiously made of split 
bamboo, in which the roots and stems of the plants 
are packed in damp earth and bound around with 
straw, while the flowers are drawn through the 
frame and woven into the desired pattern. By care- 
ful sprinkling every evening the flowers are kept 
fresh for the month during which the festival con- 
tinues. In some instances small figures are used to 
depict events of current interest. At the time of 
the Japanese-Russian war battlefields were shown 
where cavalry, infantry, bridges, and scenery were 
all composed of flowers. The fact that there are 



228 FLOWER LORE 

about eight hundred varieties of the flower, with 
almost three hundred different shades of color, vary- 
ing in size from gigantic to microscopic, makes this 
wonderful display of living pictures a credit to 
Japanese ingenuity. 

Two imperial garden parties are given by the 
Emperor each year; one when the cherry blossoms 
are in bloom and the other at the height of the 
chrysanthemum season. A few days before the 
entertainment each guest receives a large card orna- 
mented with a yellow blossom, inviting him, by the 
order of the Emperor and Empress, to attend the 
chrysanthemum party, which is to be held at a stated 
time in the imperial gardens. The entertainment 
consists of viewing the display of flowers. Mem- 
bers of the court circle compose poems for the occa- 
sion upon subjects assigned by the Emperor. A 
collation is served on the lawn and a liquor is passed, 
in which chrysanthemums have been dipped, and 
the Mikado's health is drunk to the following toast : 
"Let the Emperor live forever! May he see the 
chrysanthemum cup go around autumn after autumn 
for a thousand years ! " 

A golden chrysanthemum of sixteen petals, some- 
what conventionalized, has long been the official 
crest of the Emperor, and since the revolution of 
1868, when the Mikado was restored to his original 
power, it has come into its own again. It is em- 
broidered on flags and banners and appears on all 
government documents. The soldiers of the im- 



THE CHRYSANTHEMUM 229 

perial army wear it as a frontal on their caps. 
Among other innovations which modern Japan has 
adopted from Europe are orders of knighthood or 
decorations for military and other services. Of 
these the Order of the Chrysanthemum is the high- 
est. It was instituted by the late Mikado in 1876 
and is bestowed only on sovereigns and those 
of royal birth. Only three subjects below imperial 
rank have been invested with it, Marshals Yama- 
gata and Oyama, and Prince Ito. The emblem 
consists of a star in the form of a cross, with thirty- 
two rays. In each of the angles formed by the 
four principal arms is a chrysanthemum. The rib- 
band is red, with violet edges, and the emblem is 
attached by a gold chrysanthemum. 

In Japanese art and ornamentation the chrysan- 
themum is a most frequent theme, and it is pro- 
fusely made use of in all forms. In one of the 
apartments in the royal palace the decorations con- 
sist solely of paintings and carvings of the Ki-ku. 

The fox and the Ki-ku are often associated and 
a legend is given as the explanation. A fox as- 
suming the form of a beautiful woman attracted 
the attention of a certain Prince, who fell deeply 
in love with her and sought to make her his wife. 
One day she fell asleep in a bed of chrysanthemums, 
which counteracted the enchantment, and for the 
time. she resumed her natural shape. The Prince, 
seeing the fox, shot, hitting the animal in the fore- 
head. Afterward, seeing that his sweetheart had 



230 FLOWER LORE 

a wound corresponding to the one he had given the 
fox, he discovered her true nature and immediately 
renounced her. 

Another favorite motif of decoration is the 
chrysanthemum blossom floating in running water, 
and this is also explained by a legend. There lived 
many hundred years ago a youth named Jido, who 
was a great favorite with the Chinese Emperor, 
Muh-Wang, who appointed him chief of his at- 
tendants and taught him a sentence from Buddha 
insuring him long life and safety. One day Jido 
was passing the imperial couch and accidentally 
touched one of the pillows with his foot. A jeal- 
ous rival reported the fact to the ruler, who ban- 
ished the youth. In the province of Kia, in Japan, 
is a hill which is called Chrysanthemum Mount, be- 
cause the flower grows there so luxuriantly. It 
overhangs a clear river. Thither went Jido and 
spent his time from morning until night painting 
on the petals of the blossoms the sentence which 
the Chinese Emperor had taught him. These petals 
dropped into the river and changed the water into 
the elixir of life. 

There is only one place in Japan where the Ki-ku 
is not cultivated, and that is in Himeji, and Laf- 
cadio Hearn gives as the reason this legend : In 
Himeji is a great castle with thirty turrets, whose 
owner possessed great wealth. One of the chief 
maid-servants was named O-Kiku, which means 
chrysanthemum blossom. Many costly things were 



THE CHRYSANTHEMUM 231 

in her care and among them ten gold dishes of great 
value. One day one of these could not be found 
and the maid, knowing that she was responsible 
and not being able to prove her innocence, drowned 
herself. After that every night her ghost could be 
heard slowly counting the dishes, Ich-mai, Ni-mai, 
Sen-mai. When she came to ten there would be a 
despairing cry, which was followed by the count- 
ing. Her spirit, it is said, passed into the body 
of a curious little insect, whose head resembles 
a woman's with disheveled hair. The Japanese 
name of the insect means the fly of O-Kiku, and 
it is to be found nowhere but in Himeji. This 
legend has been dramatized and is still presented in 
all the popular theaters under the title of " The 
Manor of the Dish of O-Kiku." It is most unlucky 
to even carry a chrysanthemum into Himeji. 

The gold flower of the Greeks was no doubt a 
small variety of the chrysanthemum, and, on ac- 
count of its lasting quality, was used by the ancients 
to make chaplets for their gods. Eleven remedies 
were derived from the plant, most of which were 
for local applications. They also used to scatter 
the leaves among clothing to protect it from in- 
sects. It is interesting to note that since 1903 the 
use of chrysanthemum powder for the destruc- 
tion of mosquitoes has been recommended by our 
Department of Agriculture. An article on the sub- 
ject by A. L. Heuera, of Mexico, was published 
by the Bureau of Ethnology in 1907. 



232 FLOWER LORE 

Eben Rexford, in beautiful verse, refers to the 
chrysanthemum as the last autumn flower. 

Lo ! in the corner yonder 

There's a gleam of white and gold — 
The gold of summer's sunshine, 

The white of winter's cold. 
And laden with spicy odors, 

The autumn breezes come 
From the nooks and corners, brightened 

By the brave chrysanthemum. 

The first chrysanthemum introduced into Europe 
was sent from China to Blanchard, a Marseilles 
merchant. It created such a sensation that the at- 
tention of the East India Company was attracted, 
and it at once began importing other varieties. In 
1842, Robert Fortune was sent to China and Japan 
by the Royal Horticultural Society, and on his re- 
turn brought with him two small varieties of the 
Chusan daisy, from which have sprung the wonder- 
ful pompons that are now so much admired. The 
first public exhibition was held in England in 1846 
and from that time began the era of the chrysanthe- 
mum outside the Orient. One of the greatest at- 
tractions of London in November each year is the 
display at the Temple and Inner Temple Gardens. 
These exhibitions have been held annually since 
1850. There is no authentic record as to the first 
introduction of the flower to America, but the late 
Peter Henderson, a noted horticulturist, was the 
first to import directly from Japan about i860. 



THE CHRYSANTHEMUM 233 

Since that time the displays in this country have 
equaled any outside of China and Japan. There 
has been organized since 1890 the Chrysanthemum 
Society of America, which by its last report sup- 
plied a list of nearly three thousand varieties, with 
the names of the producers or importers. In one 
nursery in California six hundred varieties of the 
flower are cultivated. No flower except the rose 
has been written about so extensively as the chrysan- 
themum. Over one hundred books have been pub- 
lished concerning it, most of which are quite ex- 
pensive as works of art and decoration. It has 
not, however, figured frequently in poetry; even in 
a collection of one hundred poems translated from 
the Japanese there is only one reference to the na- 
tional flower. Its lack of perfume has been re- 
marked upon. 

It cheers with bloom the stormy gloom 

By chill December nursed ; 
And it is told in stories old 

That this fair blossom first, 
On that fair morn when Christ was born, 

Into white beauty burst. 

Perhaps — ah, well, we cannot tell 

If truly it be so; 
I but repeat the legend sweet, 

And only this I know, — 
That in the prime of Christmas time 

The Christ's sweet flowers blow. 

Elizabeth Akers, Chrysanthemum. 



THE ROSEMARY 

REMEMBRANCE 

The boar's head in hand I bear, 
Bedecked with bays and rosemary, 
And I pray you my masters, " be merry." 

Old Carol. 

There's rosemary for you, that's for remembrance; 
Pray you, love, remember. 

Shakespeare, Hamlet. 

The rosemary may be called a versatile flower. 
It has been associated with life and death, with joy 
and sorrow. It has decorated with its luxuriant 
foliage the garden walls of proud Hampton Court, 
and has thriven in many a kitchen garden. It be- 
longs to the mint family and was accorded a most 
honorable place among the ancients. The Latin 
calls it rosamarius, meaning dew of the sea, be- 
cause it grows so luxuriantly near the seashore and 
also because the foliage has a silvery appearance 
as if covered with dew. It is said that the gray 
bushes along the rocky coasts of France and Italy- 
well warrant the name. It was also called Mary's 
rose and was an emblem of the Virgin. The Greeks 
and Romans made garlands of it with which they 
crowned the guests of honor at their feasts. They 
also burned it as incense at many of their religious 

234 



THE ROSEMARY 235 

ceremonies. During the Palilia, or Shepherd's Fes- 
tival, which was held in April to celebrate the found- 
ing of Rome by the shepherds and husbandmen, 
rosemary and laurel in large quantities were burned 
that the smoke might purify the sacred groves and 
fountains from unintentional pollution by the flocks 
and herds. It was one of the herbs used by the 
Romans in embalming their dead and its evergreen 
leaves symbolized to them the immortality of the 
soul. When they invaded Briton they brought with 
them many of their old rites and superstitions, and 
this may account for its popularity as a funeral em- 
blem. Until comparatively recently in many parts 
of rural England it was strewn upon the coffin and 
sprays of rosemary were distributed to all those who 
attended the service that they might be cast into 
the grave as a final ceremony, emblematic of the 
life to come. 

One of the most pathetic incidents connected with 
the funeral of Princess Alice of Hesse was when 
a poor old peasant woman of the Odenwald timidly 
laid her little wreath of rosemary beside the rare 
and costly flowers that covered the casket. In spite 
of its association with the dead, as an emblem of 
memory and faithfulness the rosemary was in great 
demand as a bridal flower. Herrick refers to its 
double use when he said : 

Grow for two ends, it matters not at all, 
Be't for my bridal or my burial. 



236 FLOWER LORE 

It was customary for the bride to wear several 
sprays twined in her bridal wreath by some mem- 
ber of her family, to silently remind her to take 
with her to her new home memories of the dear old 
roof-tree and the loving hearts she was leaving be- 
hind. It was a token of gladness as well as of the 
dignity of the marriage sacrament. The bridal bed 
was decked with its sprays. The young men and 
maidens who attended the happy couple all wore 
or carried sprigs of rosemary, but it was to be borne 
in the heart as well as in the hand. Mystically it 
was thought to strengthen both the memory and 
the heart and to signify love and loyalty. In an 
old play is found the question : " Was the rosemary 
dipped ? " This refers to the custom of dipping a 
spray in the wine cup before drinking to the bridal 
couple. 

In Miss Strickland's description of the wedding 
of the unfortunate Anne of Cleves to Henry VIII, 
it is said that the Queen wore a coronet of gold 
and gems in which was fastened a spray of rose- 
mary, " that herb of grace which was worn by 
maidens both at weddings and funerals/' 

At his first appearance on his wedding day the 
bridegroom was presented by the bridesmaids with 
a bunch of rosemary tied with white satin ribband, 
indicating the authority of the bride in the house- 
hold. Wherever the plant grew in the garden, in 
that house it was a common saying that the " Mis- 
tress was master," or as another proverb expresses 



THE ROSEMARY 237 

it, " Where rosemary flourishes in the garden, the 
gray mare is the better horse." This superstition 
may account for the fact that the plant is not now 
so prominent a feature in gardens as it used to be. 

The following charm was said to be very potent : 
On the eve of St. Magdalene three maidens all un- 
der twenty-one must be gathered in the bed chamber 
of one of the number and together must prepare 
a mixture of wine, vinegar, and water in a ground 
glass vessel. Each maid must take three sips of 
the liquid, into which she must dip a spray of rose- 
mary to be placed in her bosom. They must then 
all go silently to sleep in the same bed. One spoken 
word will break the charm. If the conditions were 
carefully complied with the dream of each, it was 
said, would reveal her fate. 

Among the early Britons the herb was held to be 
of great importance in the observance of Christmas. 
The wassail bowl, which was passed around the ban- 
queting hall, was wreathed, the night before, with 
rosemary, and the boar's head, the first dish to be 
served on Christmas day, and which was carried 
with great state to the central table, was trimmed 
with the same plant. The association with Christ- 
mas may have been suggested by an old Spanish 
tradition that when the Mother was escaping with 
the Child Jesus from Herod's soldiers, some of the 
plants among which they passed rustled and 
crackled, thus betraying the travelers; but a tall 
rosemary bush stretched out its branches like arms 



238 FLOWER LORE 

and the Mother and Child found refuge in its thick 
foliage. There is also a legend that the linen and 
little frocks of the Holy Child were spread upon a 
rosemary bush to dry. When the Virgin came to 
get them she found she had hung them upon a 
sunbeam. Thus it became Mary's rose and was 
thought to bring peace and good will to every fam- 
ily who numbered it among their Christmas adorn- 
ments. 

The plant was cultivated extensively throughout 
England in the monastic gardens on account of its 
curative properties. It was said to be beneficial 
for all disorders of the liver and for convulsions 
from any cause. A liniment was made from it that 
was used for gout. Mixed with honey it was in 
demand for bronchial troubles. 

Cervantes tells a story that a young man was 
once bitten by dogs at a gipsy camp. The Queen 
took hairs from the dogs, fried them in oil, and laid 
the product on the wound. Next she laid on green 
rosemary, which she had chewed to a pulp, and 
then binding up the leg with cloth, she made the 
sign of the cross over the bite, and a quick cure was 
the result. 

Timbs says that rosemary water was called " the 
bath of life." 

In some verses, which are known as The Bride's 
Good Morrow, its use at marriage is pictured : 

Young men and maids do ready stand 
With sweet rosemary in their hand, 



THE ROSEMARY 239 

A perfect token of your virgin's life, 
To wait upon you they attend, 
Unto the church to make an end, 

And God make thee a joyful wife. 

In contrast, Gray sets out in rhyme the funeral 
custom : 

To show their love the neighbors far and near, 
Followed with wistful look the damsel's bier. 
Sprigged rosemary the lads and lassies bore, 
While dismally the parson walked before. 

Briesly, in his Chronicles, thus vividly described 
the scene at the burial of a huntsman, whose fel- 
lows attended with the dogs : 

The old huntsmen gathered round the grave in a 
solid ring, each holding his dog by the slip, and when 
the final ashes to ashes, dust to dust was pronounced, 
the whole strewed their sprigs of rosemary over the 
coffin, then raising their heads, gave a simultaneous 
" Yaho ! tally-ho ! " the sound of which became height- 
ened by the dogs joining their voices as they rung the 
last cry over their earthed companion. 

In old days the rosemary was sometimes called 
guard robe, because it was strewn in chests of cloth- 
ing to keep out the moths. 

After the great division in the church the names 
of many plants were changed in the hope of ob- 
literating the scientific and medical knowledge of 
the monks. But the name of this flower was too 
sacred to be taken away. 



240 FLOWER LORE 

The Italians recommended it for the preservation 
of youth and to strengthen the memory, and there 
was an old belief that if it was used in the bath it 
would impart gaiety and sprightliness. Young 
women considered it very effective in the removal 
of freckles. 

In Hungary a medicinal water is distilled from 
the plant which is esteemed as a remedy for nervous 
troubles. A fine aromatic oil is obtained from it 
in America and England which is of value in manu- 
facturing perfumes. The plant is also cultivated 
for the use of the bees, the honey extracted from 
it being of an excellent quality. 

The fairies, too, claim an interest in the rosemary. 
In Scandinavia it is called ellegrim, which means 
elfin plant. It is said that the little elves hide in 
its branches when they are having their frolics, or 
when they are caught in a storm. There is no 
plant that the Italian and Spanish fairies care more 
for. In fact, with all fairies it is really quite a 
national flower, and the reason is that it hides and 
protects them under all circumstances. 

Once upon a time there was a Queen who was 
very unhappy because she had no children. As she 
was walking in her garden she saw a beautiful rose- 
mary bush and she wept bitterly, saying, " Even this 
plant has branches and blossoms, while I who long 
for a child have none." The next morning when 
she awoke she was surprised to see the plant by 
her bedside. She had it potted and cared for it 



THE ROSEMARY 241 

herself, spraying it with milk several times a day. 
Her nephew, who was King of Spain, came to visit 
her, and noticing what care she took of it imagined 
that it must be something very rare, so he stole it 
and took it with him when he returned to his king- 
dom. One day wnen he was playing on the flute he 
was astonished to see a beautiful Princess emerge 
from the bush. He was so startled that he dropped 
his flute, and the maiden disappeared. The King 
was very unhappy for he had immediately fallen 
desperately in love with his beautiful visitor. Be- 
ing called by state affairs, he entrusted his precious 
plant to the special custody of his head gardener, 
with instructions to guard it most securely. His 
sisters were in the garden one day and amused 
themselves by playing on his flute. Again the beau- 
tiful young girl stepped out of the rosemary bush. 
The sisters, who were jealous of her beauty and 
regarded her as an intruder, struck her. From that 
time the plant began to droop and wither. The 
gardener, fearing the anger of the King, fled into 
the wood, and at midnight he overheard two dragons 
talking to each other. In the course of the con- 
versation one dragon remarked that the rosemary 
could only be restored by sprinkling it with dragon's 
blood. When the man heard this he immediately 
attacked and killed them, and taking some of the 
blood poured it on the roots of the plant, thereby 
breaking the spell and bringing to life the Princess 
Rosa Maria, who had been invisibly chained by an 



242 FLOWER LORE 

enchantment, which could only be interrupted by 
the music from a flute. The King soon came back 
and they were married with great splendor and 
lived happily ever after. 

The rosemary has had a place in literature in 
both ancient and modern times. The early Eng- 
lish writers especially make numerous references to 
it. Chaucer and Spenser both allude to its popu- 
larity. Shakespeare makes use of it in several of 
his plays, which show a familiarity with its tradi- 
tions. Drayton, in his quaint language, has much 
to say about the flower. Herrick and Gay have 
both given it an honored place among their floral 
symbols. Shenstone expresses indignation at the 
disrespect shown to the rosemary in modern times, 
while Tom Moore sings of it in mournful strains. 

Come funeral flower! sweet-scented flower, 
Come press my lips, and lie with me 
Beneath the lovely alder tree, 
And we will sleep a pleasant sleep, 
And not a care shall dare intrude, 
To break the marble solitude, 
So peaceful and so deep. 

Henry Kirke White, 

To the Herb Rosemary. 



L'ENVOI 

Et si la vie est un passage, 

Sur ce passage 

Au moins semones des fleurs. 

Moncreiff, Couplets Detaches. 

And if life be but a passage, 

On the passage 

Let us strew some flowers. 

Translation. 

Henry Ward Beecher once told a story of a 
little bud who thought she could not unfold when 
springtime came: 

And the sun and the wind laughed, for they knew 
that when they should shine and blow upon the bud 
and fill up and swell those tiny leaves, it would open 
from the necessity of its nature. 

An anonymous writer wisely wrote : 

Children are simple, loving, true, 

"lis Heaven that made them so, 
And would you teach them, be so too, 

And stoop to what they know. 
Begin with simple lessons, things, 

On which they love to look, 
Flowers, pebbles, insects, birds on wings. 

These are God's spelling-book. 
243 



244 FLOWER LORE 

And children know His a, b, c, 

As bees, where flowers set. 
Wouldst thou a skilful teacher be 

Learn then this alphabet. 

About 1324 there was established by the trouba- 
dours, at Toulouse, in France, a flower festival at 
which prizes were awarded by judges selected to 
pass upon the merits of all original poems, which 
might be submitted to the competition. Each con- 
tributor was required to prove originality. The 
prize awarded was a golden violet. Although women 
were barred from the contest, because it was believed 
that no woman could produce anything original, 
Lady Clemence Isaure, of high lineage, gave the bulk 
of her fortune to permanently endow an institution, 
which, under the name of the College of the Gay 
Science, took charge of the contests and the annual 
floral celebrations. When her father strenuously ob- 
jected to the attentions of her knight, in bidding him 
farewell, from the castle battlements, she threw him 
a violet, that the exile might wear her color, an 
eglantine (the sweetbrier), her favorite flower, as 
a love token, and a marigold, as an earnest of her 
faith in him. The castle being attacked the knight 
came to the rescue, but was killed, with her father, 
just after their reconciliation. She never married. 
The festival was celebrated for 450 years, and, after 
a time, silver eglantines and marigolds were also 
awarded, as second and third prizes. Some writers 
have referred to this festival as a continuation of the 



L'ENVOI 245 

Floralia, by which the goddess Flora was honored 
at Rome, in rites adopted not only from the Greek, 
but also from more ancient nations. Flower revels, 
like those of the Romans, were celebrated among 
Asiatics, Goths, Celts, Saxons, and Scandinavians. 
The Mayday festivities of England, Scotland, Wales, 
Ireland, the Normans, and modern continental na- 
tions, are believed to be a survival of the old Floralia. 
It is certain that all races of men have taken part in 
honoring and rejoicing over the flowers, and the 
return of the flowering season. The stories that are 
gathered here, though not original, have been given 
a new dress with the hope to freshen interest in 
legendary lore, now almost obsolete, because inac- 
cessible. 

Methought that of these visionary flowers, 
I made a nosegay, bound in such a way, 

That the same hues, which in their natural bowers, 
Were mingled or opposed, the like array, 

Kept these imprisoned children of the hours 
Within my hand, — and then elate and gay, 

I hastened to the spot, whence I had come, 

That I might there present it ; oh ! to whom ? 

Shelley, Wild Flowers. 



THE END 



THE HOME BOOK OF VERSE FOR 
YOUNG FOLKS 

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COCK-A-DOODLE HILL 

A sequel to the above. Illustrated by Francis Day. 
296 pp., i2mo. $1.35 net. 
"Cockle-a-doodle Hill" is where the Dudley Graham family 
went to live when they left New York, and here Ernie started 
her chicken-farm, with one solitary fowl, "Hennerietta." The 
pictures of country scenes and the adventures and experiences 
of this household of young people are very life-like. 

"No better book for young people than 'The Luck of the Dudley 
Grahams' was offered last year. 'Cock-a-Doodle Hill' is another of 
similar qualities." — Philadelphia Press. 

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS Cvin'12) NEW YORK 



THE CHILDREN OF THE NEW FOREST 

By Captain Marryat. Illustrated in color and 
line by E. Boyd Smith. Special library binding, 
$i.35 net. 

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS 

By James Fenimore Cooper. Illustrated in color 
and line by E. Boyd Smith. Special library bind- 
ing- $i-35 net. 

In every detail of illustration and manufacture these edi- 
tions are made as if these books were being published for the 
first time for young folks. This attempt to put the juvenile 
classics in a form which on its looks will attract children, 
is meeting with widespread support from the public and 
librarians. 

The text is not abridged. 

Mr. Smith's pictures need no commendation, but he seems 
to have treated these stories with unusual skill and sym- 
pathy. 



HALF A HUNDRED HERO TALES 

Of Ulysses and the Men of Old. By various authors, 
including Nathaniel Hawthorne. Illustrated. 
Special library binding. $1.35 net. 

The Greek and Roman mythological heroes whose stories 
are here collected are not covered in any other one volume. 
The arrangement gives the interest of connected narrative to 
the account of the fall of Troy, the iEneas stories, and the 
Adventures of Ulysses. 



HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS NEW YORK 



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